Puella Duces Civ V Magica
by Tamer Who Leapt Through Time
Summary: By continuously turning back time, Akemi Homura has made Kaname Madoka the most powerful potential Magical Girl the Incubators have ever witnessed. However, she has also made Kaname Madoka eligible for the game of Civilization, where great leaders engage in a free-for-all battle royal to have their wishes fulfilled. Can Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura stand the test of time?
1. Antiquity 01 - Spirit of a Civ

Chapter 1 - Spirit of a Civilization

Gandhi senses something that can save him. Madoka protests the Incubators' dismissal of humanity. Homura feels as if Madoka had become a Magical Girl.

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

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AN: Starts at Kyubey's monologue in episode 11.

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

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"_If your **civilization** benefits from their sacrifice, why should the lives of a few people matter in the grand scheme of things?"_

The words that came from the Incubator known as Kyubey, perched (as if he were worthy of such a high position) on the rack above her bed, pierced like a lance through the young girl's soul. The young girl, evidently was in great torment, kneeling, her face wracked with tears. Come to think of it, the kind of violence that was being perpetrated upon the young girl was the worst kind of one. There were many means of destroying a human being. A throat could be slit. A brain could be shot. He himself knew very well also, that a nuclear fusion chain reaction could be activated, literally vaporising a human (or more usually, several humans) out of existence.

He himself had been forced so many times to kill billions upon billions of human beings, men, women and children, guilty and innocent alike, in the course of his duties as the Spirit of a Civilization. Every time, every single decision that forced him to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles and bring ruin to 'humanity' (the term's precise meaning had become elusive to him from the day he realised he would be forced to be a divine plaything for the rest of eternity, himself being forced to treat his fellow citizens as pawns rather than equal men) real. Even if they were under his control, even knowing that whatever he did was part of an evil wretched, cosmic game (with **very** few rewards when the requirements and burdens were taken into account and weighed accordingly) meant to entertain whatever sadists would never let him rest, every death he caused weighed on him. Every death was a death. Every death he caused was a suicide of all he stood for. It was a horrible way to die.

However, it was not the worst way to die. Being incinerated by a thousand retaliatory nuclear missiles was relatively painless. It was the acceptance of death that was hard. Being forced to betray for what you stood for and to fall and cease to able to influence the current cosmic game you were in was worse, (and see your people suffer and be terrorised) but it was not the worst. Among the worst ways to die was to have your soul broken by words. Regardless of whether they were lies or particularly harsh truths (for a truth told in bad intent, was worse than all the lies you could invent), words truly were among the worse ways to kill a human being. He himself wielded the word, but he never used it to viciously and outright brutally tear out a young girl's heart and let her soul slowly rot away – tearing hearts away was something you did with a knife, not with words. He knew that very well from Montezuma I. Truly, the Incubators were among the most disgusting cosmic aberrations of this universe.

The rain continued to drop, as the filthy orgy of lies and truths continued to pour from the abomination's consciousness (and speaking of that, the Incubators loved to advertise and appeal to little girls didn't they, with those unnecessary mouth and eyes on their vessels).

The little girl, shaken and disturbed to the core, retorted to the creature's lies.

"So then, if your kind had never come to earth then none of this..."

"The truth is you humans would most likely still be living naked. In caves."

Pride was always foolish. Pride led to poor decisions and rash revenge. Every time he was forced into one of those cosmic gladiatorial shows, too often, Napoleon Bonaparte chose to make the rash decision of instantly declaring war on someone who had denounced him. That happened a lot with Ashurbanipal, Attila, Genghis, Alexander, Montezuma, Dido, Gustavus, Dido and Shaka (especially Shaka) with their cocksure beat-the-Hell-out-of-everyone mentality, but it was most egregious in Napoleon. Even if the myth that he was short was a British lie meant to ridicule, there was probably something terribly embarrassing that he was compensating for with his outright flanderised tendency to declare war over the most trivial of things (as insignificant as those lives were to the integrity of existence, couldn't the warmongers at least display some reluctance to bring death and tragedy across the land?). Alas, he digressed. What was on his mind now was his seething human pride, injured by the abomination. _"The truth is you humans would most likely still be living naked. In caves."_ What kind of absolutely evil insult was that?

You should never be proud. Being proud made you do rash things. Like nuke a city out of existence.

Every time he heard the Incubators justify their unethical opportunism, he was at the very least bothered. The one factor that differentiated this from the other incidents was the particular harshness of the revelation.

For the cosmo's sake, Kaname Madoka was a pubescent girl!

The rage that had disturbed Gandhi was old. It was trite. It was overused. It happened all the time in those cosmic plays. But he never acclimated to it. Every time he felt it, it was a fresh as the first time he felt it in South Africa. The rage was always fresh and maybe that explained why the missiles went off whenever some great injustice was perpetrated by Attila.

It was with this rage that Mohandas Gandhi materialised.

"INCUBATOR. BE SILENT." With this yell so unfit for the embodiment of Truth, Kyubey's connection to the Incubator hivemind was severed; like a limp doll, the abomination fell from the rack onto the bed, like a puppet whose strings were cut. The silence brought by Gandhi could've been seen to be a good thing. On one hand, the Incubator would shut up for a while and stop torturing the poor little girl. On the other hand, when Madoka turned around, she saw a quarter-naked man in a shawl and loincloth. Awkward.

Thankfully for him, Madoka was too unnerved to react _loudly_. Key word was 'loudly'. Madoka retreated semi-catatonically to the corner of her bed; always a natural reaction when a quarter-naked man appeared in your room without warning.

In Japanese (two ways you could understand a foreign language – you learnt it through constant, millennia-long exposure, and exposure to Nobunaga and his domineering of city-states taught you sufficient Japanese to be able to tell him that that city-state was under your protection and that a nuclear missile was headed to Tokyo - OR the cosmic masterminds did the translation for you via telepathy– albeit often a very inaccurate one that merely gave you the gist of it – an apology for spying and a lament of defeat often sounded similar), Madoka queried:

"Who are you?" Whereupon Ghandi transferred the answer the way Kyubey would've:

"_Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi – you would read it as '__マハトマ・ガンディー' – __hopefully, you've paid attention in your world history classes?"_

Madoka had always been one to care for others; everyone knew her reputation for kindness. If she were more proud of herself, she would've seen in herself usefulness and compassion.

"The Gandhi that resisted British… occupation?" Disbelief, small, but still present, was present in her voice. Even if you were surrounded by magical girls and witches, you wouldn't be likely to believe a man who looked like Gandhi and appeared in your room was Gandhi, right?

Gandhi corrected her. _"Rule."_

"The Gandhi that resisted British rule of India without hurting anyone?"

"_Yes."_

'_Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth._' – Einstein's words about him came to the front of his mind. Then again, to study history and to be part of it were different things.

Gandhi was not wrong to have brought up the thought. In Madoka's mind herself, there was much disbelief, incredulity that was battling with the fact that she had seen more surreal things. A dragon-clown-worm-clown thingy biting the head off of Mami, televisions that tortured you by pulling you into strings of spaghetti, a jet black-haired girl who always seemed to know where you were and you feel was going to jump on you at any second – she'd seen those things, alongside Kyubey – in the end, she thought 'Why not? Gandhi is kind of an inspiration to me. He could very well actually be Gandhi.'

Gandhi was relieved. This was one of the few times he'd returned to his original Earth with people actually believing him to be who he claimed to be. Ah well, it was time to cut to the chase.

"_Kaname Madoka."_

Madoka looked up at Gandhi.

"_Do you know why I came here?"_

No response came from Madoka, save an interested silence.

"_When the creature you knew as Kyubey insulted humanity, you protested in your heart strongly enough to shake the very nature of human existence and bring my presence here."_

Yet more interested silence.

"_Do you want humanity to live without the Incubators?"_

"Yes."

"_Do you want to show the universe, that even without the Incubators, we would still be where we are today, without their human animal husbandry and industrialised torture?"_

"Yes!"

"_Do you believe in the beauty of your dreams?"_

"YES!" Tears of defiance, tears of joy, poured from Madoka's eyes.

"_If you do, take this."_ Gandhi approached Madoka, and withdrew a necklace. The Necklace of Civilization was simple in design. It was a V-shape, attached to some yarn.

"_Your hands please."_ Madoka complied, spreading out her palms as if collecting water. Gandhi bent, and placed the necklace on her palms.

"_That necklace is a catalyst for something that can grant your wish."_

"Wish?" Madoka, with her experience with Kyubey, was now wary of all wish-granting entities regardless of messianic reputation or not. "What's the catch?" She was getting savvy, as it seemed; her eyes ceased to shed tears and the sharpness of a hawk filled them as if response in the very word 'wish'.

Gandhi contemplated on the word 'catch'; the fact was, in the long run, there was no catch. Indeed, there were limitations on the nature of the wish. Firstly, the wish had to have an effect that directly applied on a civilizational scale. In other words, there was no wishing for a love to have their disability healed. No wishing for more life (which was unnecessary for a Spirit of a Civilization anyways). No wishing for your father's new religious doctrines to be heard. No wishing to redo your meeting with a certain pink-haired girl. Secondly, the wishes effects' were limited to the First Existence – this world, the original Earth of all the Spirits of Civilizations – there was no hope for those iterations of India that he had lost. Thirdly there was the time it took for your wish to be granted – often, it seemed in excess of 6000 years for the process to be complete. Fourthly and perhaps most importantly – there were more people than you alone waiting for their wish to be granted – inevitably, you would enter into conflict with another Spirit (in his credit, Gandhi acknowledged their desires and often gave them a chance to win, even considering his nuclear attacks). But what did she mean by 'catch'? The closest thing to a catch would be…

"_Kaname Madoka – there is one particularly harsh limitation you have to face." _Gandhi contemplated on how to word it.

"What is it?" The determination on the girl's face was surprising – it was incongruous – minutes ago, she was a crying, miserable wreck.

In all of the Games, if there was a wish that had to be granted, you had to possess a certain will – it was the will to overshadow others. It was the will to sacrifice a few for the many – informally, you had to be willing to 'shoot the dog' – essentially, it was selfishness.

"_Regardless of whether you believe it or not, Kaname Madoka, you have an extremely pure character – you are incredibly selfless – the main problem you might face…"_

Madoka was ready for anything – she wished for the Incubators to have never contacted humanity, yet for humanity to still be where it was without the sacrifices the Incubators had forced humanity to commit. However, she was, of course, wary of any wishing that might remove her soul from her body and destroy her humanity as Sayaka, Kyouko, Mami and Homura's had been.

"_You might have to be willing to throw away what you believe in – in your case, it would be that selflessness that is characteristic of you."_

The truth was, Madoka had always suspected that she was more than others – she was the class health officer – and others had always had spoken of her selflessness, regardless of her doubts. If that limited her from true selflessness – why not?

"If I can have my wish granted… It's alright in the end." Was it just him or did his presence inspire confidence and belief?

That was the tragedy that was the very being of game – in order to win – in order to let those still living in your First Existence benefit from your wishes – you had to be willing to sacrifice those very real people of those other Existences, those humans part of the Game. Nuclear warfare. Famine. Genocide. Betrayal. Disease. Decline. Recession. Famine, pestilence, war death, the Four Horsemen. Genghis, Shaka, Napoleon and Alexander (coincidentally, there were four of them) were the most notorious when it came to working to have their wishes granted. Entire cities reduced to rubble – full of real people – farms, fields of rich corn and wheat pillaged, entire nations enslaved – all for one more wish.

"_Do you still wish to participate knowing very well you might have to betray yourself?"_

"Yes." The smile of acceptance on Madoka's face was a very visible affirmation. It was this poor naïve girl, by virtue of being the focal point of another girl's wishes, who had become important enough to warrant interest from the Soul of the Game. Appearances were deceptive. The Incubators were an example and they also knew it applied to other things.

"I wish for humanity to have developed without ever contacting the Incubators!"

"_And thus the Game of Civilizations begins." _Gandhi stood up again and closed his eyes. His palms were pressed together, as if in prayer. Entrance into the game required a chant of quotations that brought the fabric of the game close to the First Existence.

"_A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance." - Jawaharlal Nehru._ Gandhi was proud of what Nehru had brought into the world – today, India was finding its soul, long suppressed.

"_Build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn." - Douglas MacArthur. _As different he and Gandhi were, the truth still resonated in those words – that was what it meant to be the Spirit of a Civilization.

"_I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon a lute; but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable city to glory and greatness." – Themistocles. _A man who resonated with him – the disestablishment of entrenched systems of authority based on blind tradition and resistance against those who would deny his people the right to exist beyond living as subjects.

'Reality' was beginning to fade. Madoka saw that she was in a void – only her bed remained.

"_The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions … but by iron and blood." – Otto von Bismarck._ Gandhi did not by any means appreciate Bismarck for his acceptance of war as an instrument of foreign policy – but that didn't mean the truth of Bismarck's words were compromised. The existence of individuals such as Attila could only prove him true.

"_I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever." - Mao Zedong._ As with Bismarck, Gandhi found very little he could agree on with Mao – he who starved 60 million had not much in common with he who had freed 350 million. His worlds, sadly, were true nonetheless.

"_The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." – Eleanor Roosevelt._ A woman who saw a bright future. A woman, who despite all the tragedies of the last century, has not ceased to believe in the beauty of her dreams.

With this, the reality that Madoka had lived in disappeared. A flash, and the school uniform she was wearing changed into a pink fur rag. Her surroundings changed. The floor was earthen, the walls were of wood. The bed she was kneeling on felt more ragged; upon closer inspection, it was straw lined with a fur blanket. Her dismay was evident.

"_I only said that the necklace was a catalyst."_

* * *

Homura was disturbed. Madoka's life force had disappeared from her senses– a transformation into a magical girl was likely. The work of Kyubey again, no doubt. She was about to transform to repeat the loop when (as if to compensate for Madoka's disappearance) another presence made itself at home on one of her couches.

It was a rough-bearded man in a rich fur coat, topped by a pointed fur cap.

"_You looking for Kaname Madoka?" – _His words came through telepathy and sounded vaguely Turkic.

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Puella Duces Civ V Madoka Profile #1

Civilization Name: Mitakihara

Unique Ability: Arrow of Hope. Start the Game with Archery technology. Archery unit maintenance reduced by 25%. Archery units stationed in Citadels or Cities receive an extra attack a turn.

Unique Unit: None.

Unique Building: Luminous Garden. +25% Great Person generation. Does not require a source of fresh water. If an Archery unit is stationed in a city with a Luminous Garden, it will gain Culture per turn equal to 25% of that unit's Ranged Combat Strength (maximum of 10).

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Please follow and review.


	2. Antiquity 02 - Your Civ stands for?

Chapter 2 – What does your Civilization stand for?

Madoka starts Civ. Madoka become a Spirit of Civilization. Madoka finds her Dream.

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Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

After a long, torturous explanation to Madoka about the nature of how her wish could be granted and how she could retire if she felt that the wish was not worth her time (with Gandhi taking particular care to emphasise the fact that the people that existed in the Game had just as many emotions and were just as sentient as people in the First Existence and that her retirement would strip them of meaning and a future sentients rightfully deserved), there was a certain period of peace and contemplation. Having after then corrected her misconceptions of how her being here would affect her existence in the First Existence (that was, telling her that she would be able to return to it, since unlike the rest of the Spirits of Civilization, she was not deceased when she ascended), it was now time for Gandhi to inform her of the nature of the Game.

_"The form you are currently in is not usually the form that Spirits of Civilization manifest themselves in."_

Speaking of the form she was in, Madoka Kaname was dressed in a coarse pink deer skin. Seated on the straw bed, she patiently waited for Gandhi to continue.

_"Rather, you are in the form of an avatar, an incarnation in other words. It is a common beginner mistake. Simply put, you must stop thinking you are *part* of this Mitakihara."_

"But I am a part of Mitakihara." Indeed, new Spirits of Civilization tend to be confused as to the nature of leading a Civilization; Madoka was not alone in this regard.

Thankfully, she would learn faster than most of the other newbies.

A woman with purple hair made her into the thatch hut Madoka currently was in. Upon closer inspection, she bore a resemblance to Junko Kaname, such that Madoka stood up and went for her.

"Mama!" Madoka ran towards 'Junko', attempting to hug her, only to pass through and fall into the dirt.

Sprawled in the dirt, Madoka Kaname uttered, "What?"

"_This is what I meant, Madoka. You only are in that fur blouse because you _think_ you are part of this Civilization."_

Though still somewhat in a stupor, Madoka managed to stand up to listen to Gandhi.

To prove his point, from out of nowhere, Gandhi withdrew a Beretta M1934 from out of nowhere and aimed at 'Junko'.

"No!"

Too late. Two shots were fired.

Nothing happened. 606824 always did the trick to new Spirits.

'Junko's' reaction was limited to a short "Boy am I hungry for some deer."

"_See my point? You're only in this form because you think you are __***part***__ of this society. In this Game, you must __***lead***__ it. You are not part of it. You __***are***__ it."_

Madoka looked slightly traumatized. Anyone would if someone who looked like their mother was shot at by a cosmic existence. That and said mother look-alike said she wanted to eat a deer. Classy.

* * *

Dido looked to the stars. How often was it that she had a chance to see her wish granted? Simple. The Games only occurred every half-decade in the First Existence. A lot can change in five years. She rarely ever won for that matter. No amount of level-headedness or subterfuge seemed to let her interrupt the victory streaks of the Great Five. Bismarck. Gandhi. Oda. Washington. Wu Zetian. Nearly all of them were upstarts, always winning. What was in them? Did it really matter? It was as if they possessed the gift of victory by merely existing.

In the last five years, the amount of more suffering her people had to experience in the First Existence was immense.

"I must win this Game."

* * *

"_The key to leading your Civilization is to become its hopes and dreams." _

Madoka was trying. She was trying hard to ascend to form that Gandhi discussed earlier. As shocking as the experience of seeing her mother being shot at was, at least it made her understand what Gandhi was trying to get across; she was a 'Spirit of a Civilization' rather than a mere part of it – she could not 'directly' influence the events that would occur in this world by being 'there' – rather, she was to be the moving force that brought her nation onwards, to be the driving spirit of its existence.

The closest she could get to ascending to the form she should've been in at the moment was changing her clothes – indeed, she was now back in her school uniform of old. She was independent of 'Mitakihara'. The difficult thing she had to do now was to become its Spirit in the form Spirits usually manifested.

"_This isn't working very well is it?" _In defence of Madoka, Gandhi himself had once struggled to become the Spirit of one 'India' a long time ago, the first time when he participated in the Game. It had taken at least 100 years to fully be aware of the world that 'India' was in, to become connected with India itself. That meant India's first two turns were spent fooling around like a third-rate city-state like Belgrade, merely existing without a clearly-defined goal and being vulnerable to cases of surprise annexation. Fortunately, Delhi was on an island then. Even more fortunately, he managed to win that game and introduce the concept of 'Bollywood' into the First existence. Fate was on his side then. But if Mitakihara were to stay a mere collection of hunter-gathers, fate would not be on Madoka's side.

"_Come on, let's go somewhere you can think."_

* * *

Greece had fallen far since the 15th Century. The Fall of Constantinople had shredded the Greek spirit. Theodora always agreed with Alexander whenever they met each other that if they were to descend back to the First Existence and lead Greece again, the dynamics of the First Existence would be so badly shaken a major crisis would beset the world. Sadly, the likelihood of that happening was really low; for one, she was not alive in the First Existence and neither was he. Furthermore, in the last several iterations, the Game had a tendency to be won by either Gandhi or Wu Zetian. So long as those two were as skilled as they were, the chance of other Spirits like her winning and influencing the First Existence in their vision was limited.

Poor Greece. Greece was literally poor. But then, another iteration, another chance. Hopefully, this Game had no munchkins. Hopefully. The key word was hope – she was not expecting to win.

Theodora yawned on her recliner. Hope. So elusive in a world that was… a world that did not care about whether you won or lost. A world that was just a world.

Hope…

* * *

"_Much better."_ After a 'short' (one that felt like an hour) stroll and climb, Gandhi had led Madoka to the top of a nearby small , steep, hill overlooking the small encampment of 'Mitakiharans' (the only appropriate demonym seeing as Madoka had recognised so many familiar faces and look-alikes).

"_Even if it isn't the First Existence, the air is just as refreshing." _Gandhi seated himself on a boulder as Madoka stayed standing to look upon the encampment. Her ribbons fluttered with the wind, as if it itself were moved by the sight; by the sight of it, it wasn't a permanent settlement yet. Aside from the one hut she had arrived in, alongside several tents, the people around it seemed to be a band that was wandering around foraging. From a certain point of view, they were living the noble savage's life; Madoka noted, with, slight embarrassment, that she could see (what seemed like dots from the hill) skin-coloured dots (nude people essentially) dancing about near the coast, with other people situated at the rivers kneeling down, apparently washing their fur clothing. Children chased each other, some were play-fighting with clubs and if her vision was not telling her lies, a small band of people were congregated around a young man with grey hair as he played some kind of string instrument. Appropriately enough, a young girl with blue hair was trying to push her way through the crowd. To say the very least, the scene was idyllic. In hindsight, Kyubey's insult that they would be naked and still living in caves (inaccurate in letter, as these were Neolithic nomads who knew how to build as seen with the tents, rather than Mesolithic cavemen nomads, but true to spirit in that the people before her were technologically primitive) wasn't as horrible as it came out to be. No vicious organised mass murder, no mass oppression, no marriage, no relative poverty (if everyone was 'poor', was there poverty?), more love (she could see what seemed like a Neolithic version of Kazuko dragging Nakazawa to a grove to the left of her sight – quite a strong blush heated Madoka's cheeks) no large industrial wars, what seemed to be lots of leisure time – were the Incubators playing on human inadequacy from the beginning? If so, where was the want and desperation they relied on to coax young girls into eventual Witchhood?

"_Beautiful, isn't it?"_ Gandhi stated from behind her. Madoka grunted affirmatively – so beautiful – why did the Incubators have to go in and ruin everything?

Gandhi could feel the wistfulness from the young girl. Humanity, when as close as possible to its natural state, seemed to live without fear or tension. The young girl was questioning why humanity would move so far away from its roots when every step meant a potentially dangerous advance into despair and ruin.

"_If you're wondering why humanity decided to become sedentary, look over there." _Gandhi glanced his head to the right of the hill and Madoka's turned her sight accordingly. It was a grim sight. A very morose crowd were gathered around a young girl with long white hair, lying, unmoving, atop a pile of logs. A man, elaborately dressed and holding a torch approached the pile. Madoka averted her gaze, as a distance sizzling and crackling filled her right ear.

"_Death. Unpleasant but real. Like a thief in the night, and comes and seizes futures, cruelly snatching dreams and hopes away from entire nations."_

A part of Madoka was shaken deeply. It was as if she shared in the acknowledgement of mortality by her people – the fear reminded her of Mami's death.

* * *

Homura Akemi had found herself in a new experience. Simply put, she was the Spirit of a Civilization. She was participating in a free-for-all game, the Game of Civilization, where she was to inspire a nation to achieve 'victory', whatever 'victory' meant; she just wanted a world that was safe for Madoka Kaname, where she did not have to become a magical girl. If this Game actually granted her wish should she win, 6000 years as an intangible force, alone and quiet was not a lot to go through.

The man who she knew as Attila was acting as a rather sarcastic advising voice inside her consciousness.

"_Whaddya gonna do with them?"_

Attila was referring to _them_. As a Spirit of Civilization, Homura could feel the fears and aspirations of her people – the main concern the majority of them had at the moment was the fact that five barbarian hordes to the northwest were threatening their existence and as for herself, the chance for a no-catch wish to be granted. And so she, Homura, gave her warriors the will only one who has been fighting for so long could muster.

_Fortify._

Where was Madoka? She was in the Game, but what were her whereabouts?

* * *

"_To fully manifest as a Spirit of a Civilization, tie yourself to what you wish your Civilization will stand for." _Ghandi was tutoring Madoka on how to fully ascend; his attempt were not going to waste as much they were somewhat overly persistent. Every half or minute for so, what seemed to a frilly dress was about to materialise, only for the attempt to run of steam. As she persisted however, it seemed that Madoka Kaname's form as a Spirit was closer to being realised.

'Tie yourself to what you wish your Civilization will stand for.' Madoka continued to focus. She thought of the sadness that had flowed through her people's hearts at the deaths of one of their young. She did not stop there and dwell on it along however. She thought of her people's desires.

'What did it mean to be a human?' Madoka asked herself, eyes closed, hands clasped in concentration as she continued to let her mind delve further into the will of her people.

They wanted to survive. That was obvious. Survival was such a strong desire for anyone that it always popped up first. They wanted survival, not only as individuals, but as a group of people.

But the will of the Mitakiharans was not only to live – it was to prosper – it was to live beyond living alone, to live for a greater purpose.

They wanted to make the best music in the world, know the secrets of the universe, find the meaning of life, find a greater truth, experience a truer, more dignified happiness beyond embracing the current day – they wanted perfection. The death of the white-haired girl had warned them that that was impossible.

Nonetheless, they still desired this, in defiance of the sight of the charred remains of one of their young.

They acknowledged their shortcomings. Perhaps their music would not be on the level of the Gods – but if it was close enough, it was good enough for them. Maybe the universe was too dark for them to see properly; they'd try to see what they could with their two eyes. Perhaps there was no 'greater truth'; then they would establish one. If there was no such thing as pure happiness, they'd still be grateful for it not being despair. Life could not be perfect. Yet, they could not run away from the fact that was mortality. They would not run away, for the sake of the white-haired girl. For the white-haired girl, they would live.

What was such a state called?

It could only be called hope.

And thus, Madoka Kaname found the one true link between her and her Civilization.

To hope and to live. To hope and keep on hoping, no matter what demoralising events the universe would throw at them. If the present was horrible, they would live for the future. Her Civilization stood for Hope.

Madoka then realised, that she was in a pink-white dress. Her shoes were a bright red. Flowery ribbons held up her hair, frilly socks reached up to her knee. A red choker was tied around her neck and on it, there was that V-shaped piece from the necklace she was given to by Gandhi. A longbow materialised itself, her right hand on the grip. As she made sense of the transformation, she noticed also that her surroundings had changed – she was back at a place that was so familiar – the top of the school that had so many memories.

Madoka Kaname fell on her knees.

* * *

The wreck that was once the Soviet Union was an object of fixation with Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, more commonly known as Catherine the Great. The resident strongman in the First Existence was quite a disappointment to Russia – with all the land it had, it was displeasing to see that the Russian Federation was not improving in any significant way – in fact, if anything, Russia had declined to such a miserable and mediocre state it could be now called the Australia of the Northern Hemisphere, being little more than a resource-selling, alcoholic hovel – if it weren't for the fact that standards of living were not improving and the resource oligarchs were fooling around and spending lavishly on inadequacy-concealing luxuries.

Too many concessions to the 'nobility' to the degree that they were robber barons. The 'serfs' were far too restless as well – overexploitation of nationalist rhetoric had backfired awfully on the strongman. They were demanding more and more drastic action and entertainment from the strongman – there was no more ways he could entertain them. Not without a nuclear apocalypse.

With victory in the game, Catherine could change this.

* * *

There was no use crying over spilt milk. The shedding of Madoka's tears had stopped. No amount of tears could resurrect Sayaka Miki. What she could do however, was win this Game and perhaps give humanity a chance – no Incubators, no Oktavia von Seckendorff, no needless pain. Sayaka would then be alive.

Gandhi had patiently waited for the young girl to stop crying – the only way to let go of sadness and pain for some, particularly the more emotionally young, was to let them be. Hopefully now, she would be able to face the Game; if the surroundings that represented her Command Realm were so significant to her they drove her to tears, yet she was able to stand back up, it was a sign she truly had the strength to win; recovering from setbacks was key.

"_Are you okay now, Madoka?" _Madoka glanced up from her seat to see a Gandhi waiting for her. She wiped the last of her tears away, nodded and stood up, drawing in breaths to calm herself down. There was a Civilization to lead – Sayaka and Kyouko could be saved if she stayed level-headed.

Gandhi motioned his arm, beckoning Madoka to make note of her surroundings.

"_This is your command realm. It is where the majority of your time will be spent when participating in the game."_

"How will I interact with my people?"

"_Remember the words I told you earlier: 'What will your Civilization stand for?' Concentrate yourself on that thought and your will shall become your people's will."_

Hope. It was many things – it was the desire to move on despite all adversities. It was what you clinged onto when all other avenues seemed cut off. Hope was known as the greatest evil of all by the Ancient Greeks, as it caused one to accept pain and suffering with the unrealistic (to them) expectation that it would be relieved. Hope, too often, was the reason why those things that should finally rest never did and held on the bitterest of memories and hatreds. Some could say that Hope was a curse.

Curse or not – Hope was what this 'Mitakihara' would stand for. Thus, Madoka hoped and believed in Hope.

_Found City._

* * *

Puella Duces Civ V Magica Profile #2

Civilization Name: Neo-Mitakihara

Unique Ability: Time Bandit - When a city is conquered, receive a copy of one of the city owner's Unique Units. May only occur if the enemy Civilization has the prerequisite technology to construct one of their Unique Units.

Unique Unit: None

Unique Building: Dimensional Armory _(replaces Military Academy)_  
+15 XP for all Units. Enables units to be airlifted to other cities which contain a Dimensional Armory or an Airport. Increases the maximum number of aircraft which can be stationed in this city by 4. Maintenance cost is greatly increased. City must have an Armory.

* * *

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	3. Antiquity 03 - Arrow of Hope

Chapter 3 – Arrow of Hope

Mitakihara is established. Madoka contemplates on how to win. A decision is made.

* * *

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

_Mitakihara._

'Mitakihara' was to be the name of her people's city. Primarily, this was because she could see elements of the 'real' (or rather 'First' – these people were as real as the Mitakihara she had lived in) in this Mitakihara – people lived their lives, not too certain of the future, but wishing to see it nonetheless; That and a few of the citizen bore uncanny resemblances to the people of the original Mitakihara.

Madoka's eyebrows furrowed at the all-to-common situation of a young girl who longed for the love of a musician to be reciprocated and for that girl to end up in some tragedy as the scenario of union with said musician seemed very unlikely. History repeats itself.

As if responding to Madoka's observation, a meditating Gandhi with closed eyes softly uttered,

"_No. It rhymes."_

* * *

Elizabeth was somewhat concerned. Anyone would be if scraggy, beaten barbarian hordes were rushing from the northeast through the mountains – a dozen band of savages, bloodied and panicking like wild animals were pushing to the far north-east of London – it wasn't the barbarian rabble she was concerned about - she had enough experience with them to end them the second they dared dirty England – it was the implications of barbarians being scared half-to-death this early in the Game – someone powerful enough to terrify barbarian hordes into fleeing over to the other side of the mountains meant that a particularly vicious Spirit was leading a Civilization near her – if it were the likes of Attila or Montezuma, they were defeatable as they would burn out their newly-fledged Civilizations' futures from having to pay and supply such a strong military and being risk-taking enough to attempt early-Game Domination. However, if they weren't one of the more pugilistic ones, the only others who would be capable of terrifying barbarians like that were one of the Great Five – if any one of Bismarck, Oda, Wu Zetian, Washington or Gandhi were present in the Game, her chances of victory were slim.

Hopefully, that would not be. Strong was her desire to see the Sun rise on Britannia again.

* * *

_"As you may know, Madoka, victory in this Game grants wishes. And from experience, I know other Spirits have been playing the Game for far longer you ever have and that some of them are so desperate for their wishes they'll plan and scheme to the degree they might stab you in the back. What I meant to say fully is that those people have played the game to the degree they know how to win in that they can predict how you are playing. They are thinking what you are thinking that they are thinking and so on."_

That was right. The Game of Civilization was not about merely leading a people. It was about leading a people competing against other people being led by others. For her, victory meant that her wish would be granted; this would be the same case for the other Spirits. They would drive their people as much as she inspired hers. And speaking of victory…

"Gandhi. How do I achieve victory in the first place?"

* * *

'Metagaming' was an English term that was very useful for Wu Zetian. Indeed, meta-gaming was the reason she had done won a three-game streak (something that was pretty much extremely rare) recently. Such were Wu Zetian's metagaming skills that her streak was only broken by another member of the Great Five – Oda Nobunaga – to insult to injury, he won on the turn before she was about to win.

Regarding metagaming, she was employing it now – her people had settled in the vicinity of floodplains, with the sea north of them – instantly, there sprung to her mind the realisation that she had settled in what was geographically, the Egyptian Nile Delta in the First Existence – the geographic Sinai Peninsula was east of here – it would be fundamental to found a canal city to allow full exploitation of trading opportunities between East and West. Gold was necessary for Science to not be pulled back – Oda taught her that in the most infuriating way possible with his surprise spaceship.

Money was necessary in the First Existence too, lest China find itself collapsing under the weight of a grave confluence of social and environmental circumstances. The last time that happened – that explained why she was using an English word in lieu of a Chinese one.

* * *

Time. Be the greatest by 2050. Science. Send colonists to Alpha Centauri. Domination. Control all original capitals. Cultural. Create a Civilization so influential all are truly awed by it. Diplomatic. Become World Leader. These were the five ways to achieve victory in the game.

Madoka was fine with all methods except for Domination. It was natural for Madoka Kaname to feel repulsed at bringing tragedy and death upon millions of innocents just because she wished to have her wish granted – the people of the Game were just as real as the people of the First Existence. Even if Gandhi had not stressed to her enough that the people were real, she still would've thought against bringing such carnage into this world for the sole sake of a wish. Erasing the Incubators from human history did not have to mean having to create a new history written in the blood of innocents. The greatest problem facing her was the other spirits potentially seeking Victory through Domination. If she were to pursue a Cultural or Scientific victory, she would require consistent peace so as to fully develop steady progress towards them; a dilemma was forced upon her – she either had to specialise in culture, science or diplomacy, which depended on a small population and number of cities and good finances, but by doing so would leave her vulnerable to potential aggressors (and raising a strong defence force would be expensive enough to bring her back to square one) or pursue an expansionist course of action – and speaking of expansionism, Madoka Kaname possessed neither the expertise (which could be solved through more tutoring from Gandhi) nor the will (which was only going to develop when Hell froze over) to conquer other Civilizations.

Madoka was quite impressed at herself. Since when had she thought so deeply about a single matter at hand? Or maybe it was just Gandhi's mentoring.

* * *

Perhaps it was Divine Providence. It could've been destiny. The red strings of fate. Regardless of what it was called, the peoples of the City-States of Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb seem to always be tied together through geographical proximity. It also seemed as though divine mandate had condemned these three peoples to hate each other for eternity, across all time, space and possibilities. Even now, they were issuing calls for mighty Civilizations to bully one another, not that any could actually heed their calls. If a tree falls in the woods…

Regardless of whether a deity willed it or not, the Yugoslav peoples seemed always fated to be in conflict, or if not, calling each other the most egregious of insults.

Inic taunted Osmanovic over the other side of Amazon River.

_**"REMOVE KEBAB FROM THE PREMISES!"**_

* * *

_"The best course of action would be to ascertain your strengths and your weaknesses; discover your Unique Ability. After that, you should choose which path to take according to it."_

Madoka was trying to discover her Unique Ability while Gandhi continued meditating quietly. As always, learning more about your Civilization meant delving into yourself – it meant discovering your people and reading not only their hopes and dreams, but their daily lives.

The Goddess protected. Foxes and rodent pests died before her. The Goddess led. The Goddess kept your arrow true. Through the dark and the unknown, the Goddess showed you the straight path. Curled as her symbol may be, 'ま', the fact was, regardless of what deviations seemed to be there, the Goddess always led you on the one true path.

As many people ridiculed him for his beliefs, 'imaginary friend' some dared blaspheme, Tatsuya knew that Goddess was the main reason why the deer could not simply flee from him. The denizens of the village of Mitakihara, even those who were abandoning the old ways in favour of "farming", could not deny that his aim was the truest in the land. Furthermore, when he shot, he shot to kill. He did not bungle his prey. If they were to die for his food, they were to die in such a way that they would not be agonised. Not only was he true, but he was swift – if he were to merely cripple one of them, for the sake of the poor creature he would draw another arrow from his quiver and shoot again, for the Goddess demanded pain without suffering. He would shoot once, and if it still moved, he would shoot again. If it still moved (and that was truly rare), he would shoot again. He would shoot again until it passed away.

Sister Tomoe could gather dozens of villagers to shoot for her. 10 arrows from several places upon a small band of deer guaranteed game for rest of the week. As much as Tatsuya felt drawn to her, Tatsuya could not deny that his aim was more true, his technique more swift than any of Tomoe's hunters. They had their countless arrows, true, that would bring death to any furry little critter. But Tatsuya had on his side the Goddess. See was more than an imaginary childhood friend – she was his village's salvation – without her deer, without her bow and arrow, even the disbelievers would starve.

The Goddess deserved more respect.

Maybe Sister Kyouko and Father Sakura could help with that.

* * *

Madoka was quite flattered about how 'Tatsuya' thought about her. Maybe it was that Tatsuya would always know about Madoka regardless of the circumstances. Her eyes got watery at the thought.

Moving on, however, it was evident that the Unique Ability Gandhi mentioned had something to do with bows and arrows. The motif was omnipresent there – the Goddess that Tatsuya so venerated was a deity of the hunt – she was an entity that guaranteed survival against all unknowns and thereby ensured the further survival of Mitakihara, a village in the vast unknown. The people of Mitakihara, if they believed, believed in a deity of the hunt. It was the hunt that brought game, that brought life, chased away wild animals and it was in the hunt itself that the most contradictory qualities of humanity could be found; brutal strength and force meant to kill met compassion and grace that saw to it that no unnecessary pain existed. An arrow could kill or maim prey. If it but maimed, another arrow would succeed, ensuring the poor creatures that were humanity's prey a quick and merciful death free of needless suffering. This was what 'Tatsuya' believed in and what he believed would be Mitakihara's saving grace.

_Unique Ability: Arrow of Hope. Start the Game with Archery technology. Archery unit maintenance reduced by 25%. Archery units stationed in Citadels or Cities receive an extra attack a turn. _

Thus Madoka Kaname discovered the Unique Ability that defined the people and Civilization of Mitakihara. What to make of it…

* * *

Among the Spirits of Civilizations, Maria Theresa was considered one of the more amicable ones – indeed, she nearly always pursued a Diplomatic Victory – partially because she didn't like bloodlust when it came from Austrians – a certain corporal from the First Existence – who was always trying to replace Bismarck or Frederick (_damned Frederick; "Hi, Maria-Theresa, would you mind if fixed bayonets and marched into Silesia randomly like the vaguely __**FABULOUS **__thug I am?) - _had quite the bad reputation – but primarily because war was mentally exhausting and brought back tasteless memories _(Frederick you little upstart scumbag, even that arrogant munchkin bastard Bismarck is less of a gadfly than you, hope you enjoy your little retirement)_.

The first course of action would be to explore her vicinity; that way, she would be able to ascertain what City-States there were. Over the long term, she would have them all align them herself with her. Ideally, she would not use Diplomatic Marriage if the other Spirits did not seek to increase their influence with them – the moment she saw any of them attempt that…

There was a reason you amputated gangrenous limbs. _For world peace._

* * *

Gandhi, now seated on a rooftop chair, resting his chin on his arms like a philosopher musing, reflected on 'Arrow of Hope'.

"_Your Unique Ability seems very balanced; it can be used as either a defensive or offensive ability."_

Indeed Madoka Kaname's Unique Ability could be applied to all Victory Conditions. Time, to defend her realm and deter potential aggressors from attacking Mitakihara. Science, to protect Spaceship assets on the move. Domination, to consolidate her conquests and provide her with defence in depth. Cultural, to ensure constant peace so her people could afford a life beyond subsistence. Diplomatic, to defend her homeland and the homeland of those nations unguided by Spirits from those desiring conquest and expansion.

Even more miraculous was the resemblance her Ability had to the Ability of one of the Great Five's - Bismarck's Furor Teutonicus explained his remarkable proficiency in some of the games – indeed, Gandhi remembered one game where only a gigantic nuclear stockpile stopped German military might from preventing a Cultural Victory by him. The power of reduced military costs in the hands of a skilled Domination player could not be underestimated. Indeed, if Madoka were to try to achieve Victory through Domination, Gandhi would have little doubt that counteroffensives against her would be extremely costly in terms of manpower to execute. However, Madoka's choices and tendencies had to be taken into account – she was not going to bring death and bloodshed to this world just for the sake of the First Existence – Madoka was a young girl who shared his compassion for the people of the Game; subjects and pawns as they were before the will of a Spirit, they were as sentient and emotionally gifted as the people of the First Existence.

Thus, it ultimately came down to whether to pursue a Time, Science, Cultural or Diplomatic victory.

Time required both a wide and a tall empire – 'tall' referring to population per city, 'wide' referring to the number of cities – such a strategy was extremely exhausting to those who pursued it – among the Great Five, all were capable of it (even for Gandhi, if he played right), though it was generally only used by Wu Zetian and Washington, and they always seemed to be greatly strained by the time victory if any of them achieved it – more people demanded more concentration and the emotional and mental baggage tended to severely compromise Spirits' connections to their people.

Science and culture operated well with tall empires and for wide empires led by those who were _**very **_(key word was 'very') proficient with economic strategy. Higher, concentrated population always translated to more science and culture per city and furthermore, expansion tended to increase the difficulty of science and cultural costs. However, someone the likes of Enrico Dandolo (he was a merchant for Truth's sake!) or Harun Al-Rashid had the gift of remarkable financial ability and could lead their Civilization on a path to runaway economic growth that disregarded the logistical costs which characterised great empires – indeed, Gandhi almost had one of his streaks defeated by Dandolo's merchant rampage, which was only stopped by Dandolo getting dragged into a nuclear world war by attacking a Civilization he had a Mutual Defense Pact with; where did Dandolo get the idea he would get away with declaring war on a Civ that determined the balance of power? Again, the young girl probably could not handle the strain of Wide Culture/Science, great enough to play Civ or not. The sheer fear and hate in his people's hearts the last time Gandhi played Wide almost blacked him out.

Diplomatic was generally always played on Tall – unless Washington somehow made his gigantic hunk of land churn out 1000 Gold per Turn, one usually played Tall as it ensured a large treasury to "invest" in City-States.

All of this planning was done to play to Madoka's strengths. Even with that beautiful upkeep reduction bonus, the cost of maintaining a strong defensive military to garrison a gigantic empire was going to eat away at her treasury, or worse, her science, which would make raw amount of scientific research moot. When you took into account that plenty of Spirits potentially out there were superb at combined arms – Catherine, Bismarck and Wu Zetian in particular, Mitakihara's defensibility from good Archery was irrelevant. A Wide Mitakihara would collapse under its own weight.

Ultimately, it was all about finances – an average Wide empire, always expanding would always have finances slightly worse than an average Tall empire's because of development and infrastructure costs and the impact of bad finances led to a catch-22; it was more complex than the meaning of life.

No – Madoka Kaname would have to play either a Tall Culture, Tall Science or worst case scenario, Tall Diplomatic.

* * *

Barbarians were a joke. They were disorganised and cowardly opportunists as far as Homura Akemi was concerned. Witches redux. They people of Neo-Mitakihara were rejoicing at the flight of the hordes that dared to intimidate them – steadfast and strong, the defending Warriors easily repelled the stupid gangs of Barbarians that had threatened to enslave them. The barbarian animals were disorderly; they were like opportunistic wolfs attacking a prepared formation of hunters armed with spears – the citizenry of neo-Mitakihara had collapsed their charges with slings and arrows such that their charging impact upon the heroes of neo-Mitakihara was trivial – a whole band of Brutes had been dispersed. Thus the Warriors of neo-Mitakihara gave chase to the smelly barbarian rats – Homura had willed for her people to find the nest of the scum and uproot it once and for all.

If any of them touched Madoka – she swore to herself, then all savages, noble or not, would end with her.

A grinning Attila, glugging wine from the Roman amphora he had brought along from his Command Realm, looked at the concentrating form of Homura Akemi.

_Girl's sheer carnage is fantastic._

* * *

Upon hearing Gandhi's advice, Madoka had decided.

"Cultural. I'll win with the least bloodshed possible. Life will be worth living and defending."

The Arrow of Hope led the way. The Arrow of Hope pierced through all deceit and treachery and made deserts bloom, lush with life. The Arrow of Hope stopped the beasts of the wilds and most importantly, it always gave another chance. So important was the Arrow of Hope to the people of Mitakihara, so much did it mean to them, that they would dedicate a temple to She who wielded It.

_Choose Production: Temple of Artemis._

* * *

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	4. Antiquity 04 - Works of the Goddess

Chapter 4 – Works of the Goddess

Madoka sees a terrible future. Madoka meets a competitor. She see a valid threat.

* * *

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

Kriemhild Gretchen (the Terrible some referred to her, but few had the foolhardiness or (rarely actually) courage to do so) was the Goddess Incarnate. More importantly, she was_ die Führerin_ of the Greater Mitakiharan Reich of the Mitakiharan Nation that now spanned across the whole of Europe, Africa and all of the Americas.

All that stood in the way of the Führerin was either assimilated or destroyed. China. Spain. Carthage. Russia. Austria. The Celts. Portugal. Byzantium. England.

Now, Neo-Mitakihara was in her hands; she only needed to have her troops march into it. Non-original capitals could be destroyed – and she had a stash of very hungry Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to rain onto Colt City.

_"Sorry, Homura-chan. There can only be one winner."_

* * *

Bapu (Hindi for 'father') was a man of contradictions. For those in the Game, he was a man that talked and preached about world peace, but yet used nuclear weapons (albeit provoked) on masses and millions of innocent civilians. Indeed, the city he was in now, in a twisted review of his victory, was Washington, District of Columbia.

This was the tragedy of the Game that continued to repeat itself. Over and over again, the most ridiculous histories were created by what should've been obscure nothings in the past. The Socialist Republic of America only existed due to the tragedy that was Civilization; in the First Existence, it probably would not, no, never, exist.

In a twisted and sick parade a Bapu more true to his beliefs would've lost all his characteristic nerve over, a column of Abhay IFVs rolled through 16th Street NW. The angry, blood-thirsty bands of what could only be described as vengeful ghouls, those ragged survivors that scavenged the nuke-damned remains of Washington D.C for desperate subsistence, were pushed back into the rubble by his army, the army that he had brought ruin to the world with.

This was what happened when you sacrificed your beliefs for one single wish. More than one person had sacrificed their beliefs – this was the result – millions dead, all ploughshares turned into sterile swords, billions starving, all envying the dead.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of America Washington was who Bapu was looking for.

Among the Spirits, Washington and he had been the few to acknowledge the humanity of the Game's people.

_'I'm so sorry Washington.'_

In the Game of Civilization, this was the tragedy of Modernity. Three simple ideas had the ability to tear entire Civilizations apart. And in this one, it did, so, so awfully.

And so in the Abhay IFV, a single tear was shed by Mohandas Gandhi, who, for the sake of a single wish, had made the mistake of adopting Autocracy.

* * *

To no surprise, Mohandas Gandhi found a somewhat horrified and traumatized Madoka, her face as if she had seen a friend beheaded in front of her.

"Gandhi, what was that?"

Gandhi himself had seen her 'nightmare' – more a vision of potential possibilities – every Leader Spirit probably had them once in a while – the greatest powers a Leader Spirit had aside from their Unique Ability was their empathic sense and their foresight – not limited to feeling the people of the Game alone, it also extended to other Leader Spirits and as for the vision, your hunch about what the endgame was going to be like was sometimes (but never necessarily set in stone) depressingly true; what Kaname Madoka had seen was the result of adopting the Ideology of Autocracy; victory for you and maybe victory for your people but for them, a hollow one.

"_The result of adopting Autocracy."_

The contemplation of what Gandhi was to tell her about Ideology was to entail. On a more positive note, she would be informed by Gandhi that the Temple of Artemis, Pottery, Animal Husbandry and Mining were finished, with research of the Wheel half-way through.

* * *

An anguished shriek filled the room in the Ministry of Love; what room it was was irrelevant. This was the room where the Subject was to be re-educated. Former leader of the Mitakiharan Democratic Republic, formerly known as Generalsekretärin Madoka Kaname. A woman of hopes and dreams; whatever hopes and dreams they were, they existed to be reformatted; they existed to be fixed, repaired, corrected by the Ministry of Love.

500 Volts. Another shriek filled the room. The 'voltage' wasn't actually real - the pain, as far the Subject was concerned, merely resulted from the direct interaction with the Subject's nervous system. Thus, unlimited pain could be created and the only threat there was circulatory shock - that was easily prevented by correct nervous stimulation procedures.

This was a reeducation the Administrator herself supervised - some of the assistants saw that the Administrator had a sort of wistfulness whenever the Subject's former name was ever mentioned.

"Kaname Madoka." For a while, the Subject looked hopefully to the Administrator, desiring her correction would be temporarily withheld.

The Administrator inquired:

"Madoka Kaname, do you treasure the life you currently live?"

'Life? What life?'

A surge of pain wracked Madoka's body, with a corresponding screech. The system did not need speech to ascertain mental defects - it could detect them while they were being formed.

"Do you consider your family and your friends precious?"

The Subject tried to suppress her thoughts. They still were read.

'You killed my friends and family!'

"Kaname Madoka. I am your family."

A small shock was felt, as if to chastise Madoka for her disease-induced denial.

"Now that it is established you value your friends and family, do you really mean it?"

'No...' - A huge shock corrected the mental anomaly.

'Yes!' - The machine, realising that Madoka only thought this to avoid pain, guided her again, her tortured screech filling the sound-insulated room.

"Good. Because if that's the truth, then you wouldn't try changing the life you have or the person you are. Otherwise, you'd lose everything you love."

The Administrator motioned for the machine to be temporarily paused.

The entity once known as Kaname Madoka spoke;

"You won't win in the end. You know you won't! The Civvies... the Civvies will revolt! They'll end your monstrosity!"

The Administrator motioned for the machine to be turned on again. More audial reactions.

"The Civvies will never revolt. So long as they got enough Silk and Dyes, they have no reason to. If any of the Civvies become conscious, the Thought Police is what repairs them. The Outer Party can't do anything, because the Thought Police are trained on them. The Inner Party are by definition, unable to 'revolt'."

Shocks wracked the subject as if to hammer this in.

"Don't change. Stay as you are, Madoka Kaname. Stay as you are forever."

The Administrator removed her sunglasses. The subject had a realization.

This was Administrator Akemi Homura, she who had chosen Order. And she would rule this world, a palace just for Kaname Madoka.

A huge shock disciplined the subject.

* * *

Akemi Homura was awoken from the concentration of a Leader Spirit, specifically organising Warriors to exterminate the barbarian hordes west of Neo-Mitakihara. A thousand-yard stare of dismay replaced her normally neutral face; shock and appalment were written all over her it – since when would she ever torture Kaname Madoka?

It hit quite a nerve, enough to make Attila giggle and sneer. She needed him to learn the mechanics of the Game, in particular, what was 'Order' and why she saw herself torturing Madoka; after that, she was going to make it known very well that his drunken breath and silly little taunts at her misfortunes was not part of the tutorial he promised.

_Adopt Policy_

Had Homura been in a younger state of mind, she would've adopted Honor – the combat bonus of 33% was would be a great aid to clearing the local river valley Neo-Mitakihara was in of Barbarians – However, mentally at least 20, she realized that long-term planning was critical; regardless of her defeats against Walpurgisnacht, she still stuck to a plan of action every beginning of the loop to delay Kyubey from contracting with Madoka and to at least _try_ to defeat Walpurgisnacht; she was a cold strategist when it came to anything other than Madoka and her crusade for Madoka would require as many raw resources, sticks, swords and guns as possible – that meant lots of resources, thus land and another Settler as quickly as possible.

_Adopt Policy: __**Liberty**_

She had already finished research on Masonry – she only needed the right to build the Pyramids.

* * *

_Temple of Artemis: +10% Food Growth in all cities. +15% production when building ranged (Archery only) units._

"Temple of Artemis" was just a term of convenience in the game – It was more, 'Artemis Archetype'. For the people of Mitakihara, the shrine they had hewed from tools of stone and their sweat was the Temple of Madoka.

In many ancient religions, there often was a fertility goddess whose areas were hunting (or war) and fertility. In the Greek tradition, there was Artemis who was the namesake of the Temple to Leader Spirits. However, she possessed equivalents and analogues in other religious traditions. There was the Roman Diana, the Babylonian Ishtar, the Egyptian Neith, the Norse Freyja, the Hindu Banka-Mundi and the more obscure ones included the Slavic Devana, the Thracian Bendis. The Goddess Madoka was the Mitakiharan analogue. Like many of the other goddesses, she wielded a bow, led hunters and had domain over marriage and fertility. For an analogue of Miki Sayaka, walking quite quickly to the temple, this was painfully obvious as she jealously glanced sidewards to a recently married 'Hitomi' and 'Kyousuke' – the bitch was giggling in her rich fine, linen dress, tugging onto him like he was her's (well, she was correct in that they now belonged to each other – the idea of marriage was often ridiculed for this). She had it easy before her marriage with him – she was going to have it even easier now with him as a husband. As for 'Sayaka' – she was going to enjoy angling and gutting fish with her stone knife on the river until she turned into a water sprite, didn't she?

It wasn't fair – 'Sayaka' was Kyousuke's most dedicated admirer – his manipulation of the lyre was integral to her existence.

From the interior of the temple, a priestess clad in red saw the resentment on the young fisherwoman's visage – it was the face of a fool – and 'Kyouko' loved to preach to fools about how hunting was better than chasing after boys, potentially sterile ones (among the grooms, Kyousuke seemed awfully effeminate – a sign of impotence?).

* * *

Even concentrating on being the guiding force of her people, Madoka could not ignore the more egregious and outright embarrassing thoughts her people had from time to time – from this, it was clear that the oft-repeated complaint of elders that modern children were more immoral than their predecessors was terribly unfounded. The sheer amount of lust and venereal baggage around the Temple of Artemis was enough to make a woman of ill repute blush redder than roses in full bloom – but it was to be expected from a fertility goddess wasn't it (even though she didn't know how they translated her in 'fertility' anyhow)?

Then again, Madoka was going for a Cultural Victory – that implied a small Civilization, with a small number of cities with extremely high population – she had already adopted Tradition and that implied institutions – such as marriage and the oldest profession of them, that institution of ill repute – she could already sense those women gathering around the temple already searching for clients.

"_Try not to read into it that much."_ Gandhi said as if in response to her increasing embarrassment.

_Research complete – The wheel_

_Choose research_

It was never a voice that called upon you to direct your people – rather, those notifications came in the form of extremely strong and solid thoughts. Madoka dwelled on what to research? Mathematics for Hanging Gardens was a necessity for Tall Civilizations – but she could chance to delay rushing to it, as it was a Wonder that required adoption of a Policy – not every Civilization therefore had access to it.

_Choose research: __**Writing**_

While Stonehenge from Calendar certainly was a boon in the long run, The Great Library's 1 free tech advantage would kick her progress towards the Science Victory faster, even if only as a fallback – even then, if someone else got to it before Madoka, she would have access to researching Drama and Poetry – the Amphitheater and the Parthenon were absolute necessities for a Cultural Victory.

A sudden presence disturbed Madoka's concentration.

* * *

Home was where the cheese was – 'Nagisa' was by trade a cow herd and if you saw someone foreigners gawk at your cheese and cattles with coveting eyes, you knew they wanted something from your home.

* * *

"_привет.__" _The presence greeted her. Madoka could not see from whom it was spoken – it was telepathic – but she could ascertain the meaning behind it – it was an informal, casual salutation. Gandhi, pacing around in Command Realm's projection of her school rooftop seemed visibly disturbed.

Madoka responded to the greeting, projecting her meaning into the words she strongly focused to communicate.

'_あなたはだれですか？'_

* * *

The language of the responder was Japanese, though the voice that projected it was female – apparently, Oda was on a break.

Catherine responded to the unknown Leader Spirit's query.

"_My name is Catherine Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. I am commonly known as Catherine the Great."_

* * *

The name resonated through her and as it did, her Command Realm changed; the half of the school rooftop in front of her began to warp into the interior of a cold, aged building reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles. A black-haired figure in white and blue was before her.

What Catherine saw in the other command realm was an interesting sight. Before her was strange pastiche, with a Neo-Gothic fence in front of her, the view behind that being a forest of bright International Style buildings. The people Catherine saw were just as interesting. A young girl dressed in pink, with a bow tipped by a rose wearing cherry red shoes in white stockings was the first one to catch her eyes. The man in a shawl sitting on one of the benches to her left was _Gandhi_. He did not belong here.

"_A new player I see. What would your name be?"_

Madoka was unsure of how to introduce herself – she was an average girl of little achievements she could be proud of. She looked at Gandhi, expecting him to help her introduce herself, but Gandhi would not move from his vicious, piercing glare at Catherine. First impressions mattered; how would she make hers?

"_I'm um… Madoka… Kaname Madoka,"_ (surely a Leader Spirit that lived for millennia would understand different naming conventions?) _"…I come from Mitakihara, Japan… and um… nice to meet you!"_ It was awkward – the sight of an adult in a dress was imposing on Madoka and she could not help but to stutter and stumble. What was a little girl in pink before a fully grown woman whose larger dress spoke volumes about her wealth? Nothing.

"_Nice to meet you too, Kaname Madoka." _Catherine turned her attention to Gandhi.

"_What are you doing here, Gandhi?"_

"_Tutoring."_

"_Hm." _Her attention returned to Madoka.

"_Well Kaname Madoka. It seems like we will make great friends."_

Catherine and her Command Realm disappeared from Madoka's, as her's returned to normal.

Gandhi turned to Madoka.

"_You're in a bad situation, Madoka."_

The uncertainty and worry of first contact from the people of Mitakihara directly flowed through her veins.

* * *

For Boudicca, the fact that someone had complete the Temple of Artemis before her was problematic from a metagaming point of view - yes, she too had grown cynical of the belief that her Unique Ability had any significant impact of her chances of winning – the growth bonus that was associated with it was critical to the Cultural Victory she had in mind. Regardless, not all hope was lost – she had Stonehenge in construction – give for take a century or so and it would be finished.

_Found a Pantheon: __**Fertility rites**_

* * *

_"Catherine, in general, does not pursue domination as her first course of action. It is usually the Science Victory that she tries to finish. Having said that, she is highly two-faced and unpredictable; you do not know for sure if she is trying to get rid of competitors or not."_

"So she could actually plotting against me?"

_"Precisely. And seeing as you're relatively new to the Game, I'd make the guess that she will probably try to conquer you."_

* * *

In the First Existence, the place that was now 'Moscow' would've been called Kiev – located on the Dnieper River, it was surrounded by some of the most fertile soils in all of Europe, capable of immense agricultural output – in the long-run, this would be useful for Catherine in that it would provide high population potential, but, in the short term, it was not terribly productive.

With that being said however, Moscow and St Petersburg on the mouth of the Dnieper was still training Archers and Warriors by the bucket load; Catherine was willing the people of Russia to create a large army, one that was necessary to erase her competition and capture Mitakihara. If that could not be accomplished, at the very least she could lower her competition's score and send this Kaname Madoka into a spiral of scientific backwardness that would allow Catherine to continue unhindered towards the Scientific Victory.

* * *

Wu Zetian was somewhat surprised that another person would try for the Temple of Artemis; granted it gave a powerful population growth bonus and ranged production bonus, but the first wonder that usually was ever completed was the Great Library – practically necessary for a Scientific Victory, its free library was invaluable and speaking of it, it was going to be finished in half a century or so; not a terribly long time frame in the Ancient Era – the low ambitions of population of antiquity meant that important decisions were to every few years or so – the Information Era on the other hand was a completely different critter.

* * *

_Choose Production: __**Archer**_

_ Choose Research: __**Bronze Working**_

_Adopt Policy: __**Oligarchy – **_**"**Garrisoned units cost no maintenance and cities with a garrison gain +50% Ranged Combat Strength."

_Found a Pantheon_: _**Goddess of Protection –**__ "+30% increase in City Ranged Combat Strength"_

_A Unit Needs Orders: __**Fortify**_

_ Choose Production: __**Archer**_

Mitakihara now had a unit of Archers on standby. On the east of the river Mitakihara was situated on, a unit of Warriors stood guarding, defending the approach to the city proper. Madoka was adequately prepared for the deception that Gandhi had talked about.

* * *

Eurasia was exactly not a friendly place; in the First Existence, it had been the cradle of multitudes of empires that dominated the vast steppes from some urban palace in a cosmopolitan orchestra. In this world, it was a nest a city states – East to West over Xinjiang all the way to the area of Iran, it was dotted by Tyre, Zurich, Hong Kong, Genoa and Cahokia – city-states that were in essence, civilizations not led by Spirits.

It was along this route that hordes upon hordes of Eurasians nomads were fleeing, fleeing from the Flame of Terror – this was not Genghis Khan – Genghis Khan was not in this game – no, rather it was the maniacs of Neo-Mitakihara, collectively, they were known as the Flame of Terror due to their habit of burning down and massacring entire villages of nomads – exterminating all, not just enslaving the survivors – "Suffer not the Barbarian to live" placed into question – who were the true barbarians?

Aye, whoever the Neo-Mitakiharans were, the nomads were terrified of them. Maybe it started with a band of fools who harassed sedentary women; unfortunately, for every Eurasian nomad, the legions of Neo-Mitakihara did not seem to care that these nomads were only loosely associated through language and culture – to Akemi Homura, all barbarians were the same and thus, all of them had to flee from Neo-Mitakihara's wrath. And flee they would, to the other side of the world, even if their stupidity and lack of discipline were only to drive them to provoke another war of extermination on the other side of the world.

* * *

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	5. Antiquity 05 - Mitakihara under Siege

Chapter 5 – Mitakihara under Siege

Mitakihara is attacked. Madoka feels the suffering of her people. Her eternal saviour rescues her.

* * *

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

Kaname Madoka was ready for war any moment now – Russian troops were outside the borders of Mitakihara, stretched north to south. She herself could feel the fear and uncertainty of those who lived in the countryside. 'Who are those people?', 'Why are they looking so meanly at us' and 'Why are they staring like that at our women?' (a dark side of war since ancient times apparently, that was) were the questions most commonly asked – she could understand that fear and doubt – she herself had went through that ever since that dream of Homura (it seemed like a distant memory – leadership of her people felt like millennia, even if it were relatively happy, for all the sadness and doubt of her people seemed to be balanced out by their will to live for the future – 'Happiness', Gandhi told her what it was known as). She could understand – here they were, having lived relatively peacefully for two millennia and vaguely hostile bands of Warriors and lots and lots of Archers were just out their native land – anybody would be unnerved, wouldn't they?

Was this what the Aztecs felt when they first saw the Spanish?

Mitakihara had only a small handful of Archers – four units, consisting of a couple of hundred of hunters, nothing more. One stood guard in the small city and three stood amassed to the west and near and far south-west of the city – the south-eastern approach to the city was guarded exclusively by the River (which was only known by her people as 'the River' – they had only ever seen one); any attack on the city from there would be suicidal, primarily due to the amphibious nature of such an attack and any attempt to establish a siege stronghold there would be rudely interrupted by a hail of arrows; Hell, the city proper was surrounded on all sides by water! With that being said, a Warrior was on watch on the eastern approach for manoeuvring purposes.

If Catherine did indeed declare war and attack (and Madoka sincerely hoped that Gandhi's prediction of deception was wrong this time around), hopefully they would not be able to capture Mitakihara.

* * *

Catherine possessed many assets – the most visible of them was her large tracts of land – in both senses of the word – Harald Bluetooth was well known for 'coveting' them – though the fool was really too irrelevant to pay any attention too, even if he somehow managed to be selected by the Game – and speaking of the Game, often, to everyone, it seemed as if the Game had a mind of its own – sometimes, Leader Spirits it would let participate in the game for rows on end and sometimes, it excluded certain Leaders for decades – Attila seemed to be on a blacklist of sorts – the last time he ever played was in the First Existence's 1970s– of course, he burned himself out.

Returning to the matter of assets, other ones she had included strategic ability that would put the recurring being of Georgy Zhukov to shame and a knowledge of _metagaming_ that only tens of millennia (albeit in the Game and from a Command Realm, which eased the burden of time on the mind) of experience in the Game could bring; If this Madoka had indeed been told of her discreteness ('deception' implied Leaders weren't playing to win) by Mohandas Gandhi, she probably would attempt to produce a plethora of defensive units; taking into account that she possessed the Temple of Artemis (Leaders always knew about whether their opponents had Wonders or not when they met each other – the Game automatically told them), she was probably building large amounts of Archers – she had also Found the 'Goddess of Protection' pantheon – one that was commonly eschewed by more experienced Leaders who preferred strategic advantages to tactical ones and was usually a sign of insecurity in those who chose it. Madoka would probably attempt the classical archer cluster that rained doom onto any idiot foolish enough to attack from the most direct path – Catherine was not an idiot.

Judging from the topography of Mitakihara, if Madoka was skilled enough (or if Gandhi told her enough), Madoka would probably position her defensive archers to the hilly west of the city so as to cover the eastern approaches. Thus, Madoka was attempting to use terrain to her advantage.

Dear oh dear, how would a little girl know so much about war? Catherine felt as if though she was overestimating Madoka. Still – never assume the enemy is inferior to you.

The fact was, those troops that were lining on the eastern side of Mitakihara were but a diversion; Catherine would attempt a flanking manoeuvre. She actually had two forces – the diversion and raiding force consisted of two warriors and two archers – the flanking force, three archers and two warriors.

They were really putting a strain on Russia's resources – Catherine's GPT was in the negative and she already had a supply production penalty– if she entered a deficit, that would retard her true objective; a science victory. Catherine had to finish this war quickly obviously – but she had to have meticulous planning as well.

Thus, Catherine willed her flanking force to manoeuvre to the south-west of the city, far from the sight of city's borders – the eastern force would engage in strategic warfare – in ancient and medieval times, this was known as 'rape and pillage' – thank goodness for the modern term; it sounded less unpleasant.

* * *

'Mami' was the leader of a group of pack hunters – unlike 'Tatsuya' _(delicious little Tatsuya) _who sneaked about from heights and killed deer with precisely shot arrows, she and her little band (of whom she had to say, loved to stare at a particular part of her fur-clad body often) were quite direct – they would encircle a certain poor deer and fire simultaneously at it with dozens of arrows – excessive some called it, but it ensured a season of deer jerky so Mitakihara wouldn't starve.

'Mami' was reasonably disturbed by the increased sensitivity of the deer compared to when she was younger – a long time ago, it took the snap of a twig to unnerve deer - now it seemed that the deer were on edge the minute they heard a footstep from one of the hunters. Strange really. Maybe it had something to do with the ghost-men outside Mitakihara's surrounds, but even then, were they close enough to disturb the deer?

The ghost-men were too polite to the Mitakiharans – they obviously were up to something – she hoped the ghost-men weren't on the western side of the River as well.

* * *

_"The Great Library had been built in a faraway land!"_

"блядь!" Someone completed the Great Library before Catherine – all the more reason to get rid of competitors the sooner.

The first step of action would be to kill any means of supporting manoeuvre that could harass her besieging force – that would be the unit of Warriors stationed immediately east of the city – killing it would free her eastern forces to engage in strategic warfare against Madoka and after that, she could unite it with her flanking force. Afterwards, reinforcements from the south-east would arrive and cement the defeat of Madoka.

Catherine willed that the archers amassed outside Madoka's territory would start firing at their adversaries.

_Does this mean WAR ?! (vs. Kaname Madoka)(You can peacefully enter if you sign an Open Borders Treaty.)_

"_Yes."_

If one walked through the corridors of time, every step or two, they would witness a war – it seemed almost integral to the very nature of humanity; some noted that this was a tragedy; the universe did not care; it merely observed and gazed on. The universe did not recognise 'what ought to be' – it simply acknowledged what merely 'is'. A provider of evidence it was, a judge it was not. The universe was a witness of many wars through humanity's history – while humanity's fleeting and undisciplined memory forgot the wars of the Subjugation of Elam, the Battle of Mingtao, the Hyksos' Conquest of Egypt and the even more ancient Cemetery 117, the universe remembered. If humanity desired that those memories be returned, the universe returned it to them, like an eternal, ever-reliable confidant – in this way, the memory of the people of Cemetery 117 survived. However, for the people of Mitakihara, there was no necessity for them to rely on Universe to preserve this memory – in their world, they had discovered Writing – future generations would remember the aggression of Ancient Russia. And in the world of the Leaders, Kaname Madoka would not forget the pain inflicted on her people and by extension, her.

* * *

Nothing in the universe could prepare Kaname Madoka for the sudden surge of stabbing pain that flooded virtually every part of her body. Pain, immeasurable, pain millions of time more painful than tripping and skinning one's knees or being stung by a hornet, rushed through her body. The pain of a thousand arrows pierced through her head, face, abdomen, lower region, legs, arms and eyes. _Eyes. _

At that instant, Kaname Madoka collapsed onto the ground, reeling, writhing, screaming in complete and utter agony, knees to chest, and her palms covering her eyes – of all areas that had to feel like they had been stabbed, they had to be the eyes! Kaname Madoka continued intermittently screaming incoherently until several minutes later, the sharp pain receded, replaced by extreme soreness throughout her body.

It was a pitiful sight.

Gandhi stood up, approached her and extended a hand; calmly, he stated to her:

"_The pain is purely sympathetic; it doesn't harm you physically in any way."_

Madoka flung her shivering left hand to Gandhi's and used it as support as she steadied herself up.

"Looks like you were right Gandhi; Catherine declared war on me." A weary Madoka made her way to the nearest bench, slumping herself down. Yet another surge of pain rushed through her and Madoka winced loudly, clutching her arms together.

"How do you manage the pain?"

"_You can't, it never actually goes away."_

Ouch; Madoka was going to have to deal with it for what, the next four millennia?

"_You'll get used to it; like I said earlier, think of what your Civilization stands for."_

Squinting in continued dull but intense agony, Kaname Madoka gasped, then thought sardonically:

'This Game certainly involves a lots of ideals doesn't it?' A small screechy wince jerked out of her.

_Hope._ The pain slightly went away, but a distinctly strong memory of them was still there – the 'painlessness' that was this residual pain didn't hurt like a thousand arrows, but it still hurt like Hell.

"_I suggest you connect to your people right now; will them to mount a counterattack – at this rate, Catherine will probably send in reinforcements. The greatest threats are the melee unit Warriors – only they can capture the city."_

_Ranged Attack: Order the unit to remotely attack the selected tile-_

Before Madoka could concentrate her will, a biting pain stabbed her lower abdomen – immediately, horrific images filled her mind and Madoka screamed as if she herself were the victim.

That was the worst part of fighting a defensive war; wars, usually started by males, disproportionately affected females and children, often in the most enraging of ways – The mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, women and girls in general of Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Darfur, Bangladesh, the Soviet Union and Germany in that terrible Second World War knew that from direct experience.

_"Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be taken." - __Isaiah 13:16_

This was war. War was not a joke – and the utter pure rage Madoka had in her heart as her people were persecuted was only kept in check by a desire to make sure victory was the outcome of her rage.

In the Second World War, Russia had an oath.

_For the burned cities and villages_

_For the deaths of our children and our mothers_

_For the torture and humiliation of our people_

_I swear revenge upon the enemy_

_I swear that I would rather die in battle with the enemy_

_Than surrender myself my people and my country to the Fascist invaders_

_Blood for Blood!_

_Death for Death!_

Gandhi stoically reflected on the irony Russia was persecuting on Mitakihara.

Truly, regardless of the era, war remained a truly evil enterprise.

_Research Complete: __**Sailing**_

On the bright side, Mitakihara wasn't going to starve.

* * *

For the people of Mitakihara, war as it happened now was a completely new experience. There had been violence in the past in the ancient history of Mitakihara, true – but this experience, murder by a hostile, organised and most of all, alien force that would not stop no matter what was completely new.

The Russians as they were known, were synonymous with brutality and cruelty – over a generation ago, they had raided the pastures south-east of the city – raping and pillaging on a level that created a new legend in its sheer terror.

15 years ago, when the bandit hordes of Russia burnt down the dairy village, unspeakable atrocities had been committed – refugees from the countryside escaped to the Old Town of Mitakihara, bring back tales of grave evils – people nailed to cows that had pitch poured over them and then set on fire, the bandits raping children, torturing innocents for kicks and giggles.

'Kyouko', a priestess of the Lesser Shrine of the Goddess (the Temple of Madoka had since been relegated to streetwalkers and war-archers and had less of a spiritual connection with her – it was more a fancy cultural artefact now), could see very well why her heart-bleeding father died after hearing so many tales of this 'war'. The new term to describe this evil state of things was apparently this – before, 'war' made one think of girls fighting over boys – the von Seckendorffs' and the Shizuki's centuries' old feud over stolen lovers came to mind – even then, the most intense conflict between them were punches in the stomach and threats with stone knives – there was never truly lethal bloodshed.

'Kyouko' remained prostrated, hands clasped in intense prayer – when was Oktavia V going to bring the fish as sacrifices to the Shrine?

* * *

For over a decade, 'Nagisa' had been exiled from her home. Overran by Russian bandits and thugs, it was probable that there was nothing left. She saw it. She saw how they lit their village on fire. As they fled desperately, that image of a fiery red horizon fading away was so much of a depressing memory for her that her eyes got watery at forcing herself to remember it.

As a refugee, she lived in the outskirts of the City. The fields were as green there as they were back at home – but there was no cattle – maybe a couple, ten or so – but never the old entire fields of cattle of home.

Even from here, the bandits were visible. In the distance, they continued to taunt 'Nagisa' as they did to the rest of the people of Mitakihara.

In remembering nostalgia, 'Nagisa' made a milking motion with her right hand; pinch shut with finger and thumb – pull down. Repeat.

There was no milk in Mitakihara anymore – not for the poor people anyways. No deer or mutton either – just bread and fish. Fish smelt awful, but Nagisa didn't want to starve. Even if she lived in a hovel immediately outside the walls of the city near the cesspits, living still meant something if it meant one day she could milk cows again.

And so, 'Nagisa' sat on the dirt, slumped, outside her hovel. Hopefully, Mami-neechan could find a client or two today with bread – otherwise, it would be another day hungry.

* * *

The last couple of years had been depressing for 'Junko'. 'Junko' was a scribe for the Shizukis and it seemed the more time passed, the more depressing the things she had to tabulate became.

'The cattle farms have been pillaged.'

'Refugees now line the walls because the inner city is too small.'

'There are beggars everywhere near the palace.'

'Refugee girls are selling themselves for food.'

'The bandits call themselves 'Russians'.'

These were among the aforementioned terribly depressing things that 'Junko', a woman widely ridiculed for her effete cook of a husband, had to inscribe ever since the deluge of Russians had come over. Barbarians!

'Junko' felt old. The wrinkles were beginning to catch up to her – the reflection from the wooden mug of beer showed her that much. Being a scribe was much better than one of those farming peons outside the city walls. It was also less strenuous than being a hunter – she was curious as to why 'Tatsuya' had chosen such a path; the Goddess nonsense was a bunch of hullabaloo meant to distract the farmers and nothing else. You had constant access to beer to drown your sorrows in.

Speaking of farmers and peasants, she had been one; the fact that she was female and made it into an administrative role was always an huge, blaring annoying piece of trivia; she felt like a hypocrite for denigrating her own origins.

"COOK!" 'Tomohisa' clad in linen ran made his way from the servants' kitchen to the dining hall.

"Yes dear?"

"Get me more beer!"

"But…"

'Junko' slammed the beer mug on the oak table (a modest luxury for the better off, but not enough to compare with the oligarchs' extremely rare 'stone' tables (wherever they got them was unknown totally to her)).

"MORE BEER!"

'Tomohisa' obliged. This war had really made her turn out for the worse.

* * *

The Russians were probably evil; that was the only reason that sufficiently explained why around seven years ago, the bandits went and killed a band of Mitakihara's hunters who were watching guard north-east of the forest – now a critical source of Mitakihara's food was gone – why would you starve a whole city of people? It was meaningless. What had you to gain?

'Tatsuya' did not know the thought process of the Russians. No-one did – their destructive ways were unexplainable – burn houses, kill livestock, kidnap women, torture children – the monstrosity was too terrible for them to be people like Mitakiharans – the Russians certainly weren't human.

With that established, 'Tatsuya' returned to his duty of vigilance – the City was to be protects _at all costs._

* * *

Inspired by a force beyond description, almost divine, Oktavia V had a vision of the City of Mitakihara from above. The bandits surrounded Mitakihara to the north-west, the south-west and the east. Their presence disrupted daily life and ruined livelihoods – and with the vision, Oktavia V had been given a means to defeat the enemy.

Since time immemorial, the von Seckendorffs and Shizukis had been adversaries – it involved marriage and adultery; Oktavia V could not remember the specifics, but an enmity characterised by constant ridicule and exclusion of each other was how the relationships between the Shizukis and the von Seckendorffs was defined.

However, in this time of fear and desperation, Mitakiharan was not supposed to bicker with Mitakiharan – for one, the clans of Shizuki and von Seckendorff could agree on one thing – the bandits that had wrecked the countryside several generations ago had to go.

* * *

_A unit has been killed! _Specifically, it was the warrior to the furthest south-west of the city.

The pressing pain of a thousand arrows and bludgeonings had filled her body, but even as she grasped her left arm, gasping for air for a pain that wasn't hers, she persevered. Catherine could not violate her people and get away with it.

Madoka psyched herself for the counterattack.

_The greatest threats are the melee unit Warriors – only they can capture the city. _The closest melee units were the ones to the north-west on the plains and the one on the far south-western hill – the one that had killed her furthest south-western archers.

_Ranged Attack: Order the unit to remotely attack the selected tile._

Kaname Madoka willed the city to attack the warrior on the hill – they presented a more coherent front against Mitakihara when the two archers supporting them from the south were taken into account.

A hail of stones greeted the Russian interlopers, stone thrown with the force of oligarchs fearing for their lives and imbued with prayers to the Goddess.

* * *

Catherine winced at the sympathetic pain that was inflicted on her by Mitakihara – it was distinctively stronger than the one from the other times she had attempted to dominate other leaders earlier in the game.

Catherine made an inquiry to the Game. Apparently, Kaname Madoka had adopted a Tradition policy and had Goddess of Protection as a pantheon. So she was playing defensive eh? No matter. Reinforcements from Moscow would arrive soon enough.

Nothing was certain in the world of Civilization; however, Catherine was relatively confident she could conquer Mitakihara. Good strategy trumped good tactics by its very nature.

* * *

Kaname Madoka was not finished yet – fours units were free to be ordered and one had an extra attack.

Madoka willed that the Archers of Mitakihara's walls would fire at the Russian Warrior bandits on the hill.

* * *

War was a long and tedious enterprise. For over a year, 'Tatsuya' had stood watch over the walls of Mitakihara. The foes always on his mind were those thugs who claimed the hill over to the south-west. Those foes who had menaced the people of Mitakihara for at least two generations scared away the shepherds, removing a crucial source of food for the people of Mitakihara. Rats!

General von Seckendorff, an old, blue haired lady who come from a line of fishmongers who had an old feud with the Shizukis (even though they both belonged to the governing oligarchy of Mitakihara), walked from the end of one of the wall's towers towards 'Tatsuya's' band of archers.

The trilled angry 'r's that fired out of her mouth frightened nearly every single one of the band keeping watch on the wars.

"ALRRIGHT RRASCALS! NEWS FROM THE COUNCIL – THEY WANT EVERRY SINGLE ONE OF YOU TO FIRRE AT THE SAME TIME AND KILL THOSE RRUSSIAN SONS OF BITCHES – AFTER THAT, THEY WANT YOU TO SHOOT UNTIL YOURR ARRMS ARE SORRE!"

'Tatsuya' obliged.

* * *

'Nikolai Yezhov', in another world, was the head of an agency called the NKVD – an institution well known for its sheer brutality and the injustice of its behaviour. Yezhov was a mild mannered man in that world, although to his opponents, that affability did not conceal the fact that he was brutal and vile in how he operated the agency. In the First Existence, it was reputed that under him, the NKVD would use dunking in secret police's urine and other bodily emissions as a form of a psychological torture.

In this world, 'Nikolai' was just the son of bandits who had roamed this rich land called Mitakihara for generations. Said bandits loved pillaging, killing – and rumour had it that Nikolai was the bastard offspring of one his father's Mitakiharan captive concubines – meh, it was the livestock that was so pleasant about the place, not the women. Have you ever tortured a cow? Yeah, it was so popular with the bandits that they seemed to be running out of them.

The sky turned dark – Yezhov turned and saw a rain of arrows about to strike him – several years ago, over half of the camp had been killed by a hail of extremely hard hitting stones.

At the end of the day, nobody, not even Yezhov, survived the torrent of arrows that cleansed the hills on the far south-west of Mitakihara.

* * *

_A unit has been killed!_

War was always painful regardless of whether you were attacker or defender – it was a rare Leader Spirit that could finish the game without screaming at least ten times – when a nuclear missile hit one of your cities or units, it felt like your soul was being ripped out – machine guns could sometimes cause quite horrible agony as well.

Catherine was always expecting her south-western Warrior to be killed – early game units were pawns, nothing else, but the manner in which it was killed was surprising.

Her warrior had not been hit by two ranged attacks from the city, but rather, three.

It was then Catherine had the realization that Madoka had the ability to launch more than one attack per turn with an Archery unit. It did not distress her too terribly – but it was problematic.

* * *

Was Civ always this painful? Feeling entire volleys of arrows piece you whenever your people experience it themselves?

What was this?

Madoka felt somewhat faint - anybody would if they felt like they had been crucified.

The sheer atrocity of the pain her people had to be subject to…

Madoka willed the Archer immediately south-west of the city to move to the hill to the west – that way, they would be better protected.

_Ranged Attack: Order the unit to remotely attack the selected tile_

The Archers directly west to the city launched a volley onto the Russian Warriors north-west of them – even if the Russian Archers to the far-north-north west were to attack in support, any breakthrough made by the Russian would come at a high price.

_Next turn_

* * *

Even with a city-capturing unit destroyed, Catherine was not about to lose yet.

Her opponent was on the defensive, trying to minimise losses – the key word was 'minimise' - they could not be stopped in full.

Catherine willed her Archers east of the river (Vistula, judging by the geography of local terrain), east and east-south-east of the city to launch a full volley on the Warrior protecting the east of the city.

* * *

_A unit has been killed._

"AHHH!" Another wave of pain hit Kaname Madoka in the chest.

Madoka had neglected to withdraw her Warriors by embarking them north-east to the city; that was a mistake she reminded herself to never forget.

* * *

Catherine willed her two Archers south-west of the city to attack the Archer on the hill south west of the city. Terrain could only minimise damage – it could not get rid of it.

* * *

This time around, Kaname Madoka felt the same type of pain hit her again – it was lighter this time due to the hills, but it still made her wince.

* * *

The Warrior Catherine had positioned to the north-west of the city was a ruse – they were meat shields to prevent the Archer South-West of the city from targeting her warrior on the eastern side of the river. She willed them to withdraw to the west of her northernmost Archers, with said Archer itself withdrawing to the west.

The Mitakiharan army outside of the city was losing integrity – two of their units had been killed compared to Catherine's one. That, and Catherine had reserves.

A reinforcement of four Warriors, three Archers and two Chariot Archers made themselves known to the eastern borders of Mitakihara.

_ Next turn_

* * *

The sensing of Catherine's reinforcements hit Madoka's heart like a boulder – amidst all the lingering sympathetic pain, a new fear filled her – the fear of potential defeat, that shame of having power to changed things yet not wanting to.

Sayaka's angry and desperate argument about Madoka not helping her came to mind.

Madoka willed her western Archer to move south-east.

_Ranged Attack: Order the unit to remotely attack the selected tile._

The two bands of archers launched arrows at their Russian counterpart. If victory was not possible, at least Catherine would have to pay the full price for violating her people.

* * *

Catherine was about to again, start focusing her will on her reinforcements, when a very familiar presence disrupted her senses.

_Barbarians!_

Barbarians, masses of them, hordes of them, larger than the usual lot, were east of the Ancient Russian Dnieper Empire – the teeming masses of Archers and Warriors seemed hungry, poor, afraid and… frenzied. Worse, the majority of her farms were on the eastern side!

Catherine did not want that sympathetic pain nonsense being inflicted through her through her civilians.

_Move unit. Move unit. Move unit. _Catherine was organising a retreat back to Moscow.

_Next turn_

* * *

Catherine's units were retreating!

Some relief filled Madoka – but so much had been lost, that it felt shallow.

Her people had been murdered, starved, plundered, enslaved and violated. Perhaps worst of all, she had felt it. Madoka could not help but collapse to the ground and begin crying. Civilization was horrible. She wanted to retire. She couldn't take it anymore.

'_Pursue.'_

Madoka looked around in her Command Realm; only Gandhi and she were in it – where did the voice come from?

'_**Pursue.' **_Madoka could discern it – it sounded like her own voice…

Gandhi looked at Madoka curiously – what was she searching for in a Command Realm?

…but it was charged with a vicious and awful hatred that made it impossible to be hers.

'_**PURSUE!'**_

It would've been impossible to defeat Catherine anyway, but Madoka obliged the voice, standing up, and willed her remaining Archers to move forward to attack – though it felt as if her will was not entirely her's alone.

* * *

Catherine flinched as arrows hit her two retreating Archers.

Madoka would not be able to destroy them; her Archers had retreated across the river and after that, it would impossible for her to catch up; it was entirely counterintuitive on Madoka's part.

* * *

"_I'd suggest you stop – you won't be able to pursue her with unmounted troops and you're leaving Mitakihara unprotected."_

Gandhi was right – she was leaving Mitakihara unprotected.

Why was she attacking people fleeing for their lives?

Resolve built by rage could only last so long; again, she was about to leave her people vulnerable by getting distracted – first, it was the Temple of Artemis and now she wanted to pursue an enemy she could not possibly defeat. Her knees grew weak a second time and as she faltered, her pink dress faded away back into her school uniform. Tears of hate and rage reverted to tears of mourning and sorrow and Kaname Madoka fell on the nearest bench, her arms pressed on the stone surface to support her as sobbing wracked her frame.

_Next turn_

_Next turn_

_Next turn_

_Next turn_

_Next turn_

_Next turn…_

* * *

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	6. Classical 06 - One More Turn!

Chapter 6 – One more turn!

Homura bears all the evils of the world for her love's sake. Madoka is reaffirmed in the Beauty of her Dream. The Gods smile upon Mitakihara.

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

"Human and the incubators have shared history together. We have intervened in your **civilization's** development since prehistoric times. Throughout the ages, countless girls have made contracts with incubators, had their wishes granted and then _**succumbed to despair.**_" Kyubey, Messenger of Magic

* * *

Akemi Homura, Leader Spirit of Mitakihara, had taken Attila's advice to expand southwards. On the bank and mouth of the northernmost major river, there lied New Mitakihara, the first city of the civilization that would be known by others and later themselves as Neo-Mitakihara by virtue of strange, almost otherworldly similarities in ancient cultural aesthetic and linguistic patterns to Mitakihara in Europe. From the viewpoint of archaeologists in a future era, it was called New Mitakihara in the same way Carthage's (_Qart-ḥadašt) _name meant 'new city', implying a 'New Tyre' – in the same way, but even more stronger, with a name that remained exactly the same through times ancient and modern, 'New Mitakihara' implied that ancient settlers from the original Mitakihara of Europe had traversed all the way to East Asia before 6000 BC; in the world of Civilization, linguists and archaeologists were inevitably always puzzled by why disparate ancient cultures shared startling similarities in aesthetics; nomadic human migrations was the only feasible explanation, but even then, that was problematic – how was migration managed while cultures remained so similar?

These questions did not bother Akemi Homura, as for now she was focused on ensuring that in the long term, Neo-Mitakihara would be the most powerful Civilization of them all – that meant high quantities of all resources – Food, Production, Gold, Science, Culture, Faith and Tourism. In turn, that meant lots and lots of land.

By the end of the Ancient Era, Neo-Mitakihara consisted of four cities – New Mitakihara (the fact the Game would not allow it to be named Mitakihara meant to Homura that Madoka was in the Game somewhere), Madoka (named after her most precious friend) on the major river south of the northernmost river, Heckler and Beretta (those two named after two tools that showed her the brutal truth of the world of 'magical' girls – even the magic of that which was the consequence of creating false miracles was defeatable by mere, crude, cold firearms) located inland westwards of New Mitakihara and Madoka respectively.

Upon establishment of two new cities Wesson and Browning, respectively upstream of the northern river and south-west of Madoka City, Homura encountered something which could be described as a problem; firstly her sense of time was distorted – every decision and will upon the people of Neo-Mitakihara took longer to make – secondly, her vision went fuzzy – finally, and perhaps most insidiously, her left side above her chest was hurting immensely – the latter two points were a sign her magical healing was being undone. Homura was not going to ignore it; casting her concentration off of her civilization, she tried casting magic on her eyes and heart again…

…to no effect.

If that didn't work, then that would mean her time travel wouldn't work – and if that didn't work, that meant that she would be unable to turn back time should Madoka become a magical girl – frantically, she tried to activate her shield; it wouldn't. She tried to withdraw a weapon – that didn't work either.

Quite alarmed, Homura turned around to face her 'tutor' (more accurately, 'snarking bastard') for Civilization.

"What does Civ do to your abilities?"

Attila, was of course, in somewhat of a drunken stupor.

"_Shay… What?"_

Quite irritated, Homura, still hurting in her left side, torturously approached Attila about to deliver a slap to his face when he suddenly actually answered her question.

"'_Kay, kay, it subsumes it!"_

"Subsumes?"

"_Whatever hocus pocus or character trait you have relevant to your Civ, your trait goes into Civ so long as you play the game."_

"So are you saying…"

"_It absorbs your ability and gives it to your Civ."_

Huh. Time-freezing peasants.

"_And as for the straining and aching that's happening to you right now_, _that's a game mechanic – your people aren't happy and judging by the number of cities that you established, I think the unhappiness is quite high."_

Just like Kyubey.

"Then why did you tell me to settle more cities?"

"_No reason in particular, except for shits and giggles."_ Quite the annoying smirk was on his face.

If Leader Spirits were mortal and looks could kill, Attila, her "tutor", would be dead quite a lot of times over.

And so, Homura turned back and refocused her thoughts on Neo-Mitakihara, her chest still hurting quite awfully.

_This is for you, Madoka._

* * *

Theodora had willed that the vicinity of the river Byzantium was located on be explored – she had developed the suspicion that her spawn point was on Albion - a river flowing east, zigzagging down and up from its source in the west, not forested with heavy vegetation – few rivers shared those characteristics of the Thames – furthermore, the distinctive chalk cliffs in the far south of her area hinted of Dover.

Her suspicion was perhaps all but confirmed when she had embarked her settler eastwards – a river that opened to the sea in the northwest was immediately south of the area her dromon had explored – the Rhine. Just to make sure her senses were not fooling her, Theodora willed her dromons to sail southwest; there, her people saw for her, that the land was jagged like a beak of a bird, with more rivers ending south-west – Somme and Seine.

Once upon a time, Gallia was a province of the Roman Empire. 'Once upon a time' was phrase this was focused on – by her time, half of the Empire was missing – this was the imperfection that her husband Justinian had tried to rectify; _renovatio imperii_.

The name of Justinian was always to her a force that softened her jaded heart. However, when faced with the grim reality of an 'afterlife' (if it could be called that) where power only God could imagine of backfired into your face, 'Justinian' was just another word, a word referring to a person you could only met once every millennia briefly for a mere greeting and farewell.

'Justinian' was just another word.

_Found City: Nicaea?_

No; Theodora was in somewhat of a sentimental mood –

_"What would Justinian do?"_

_ Found City: __**Lutetia**_

It was a meaningless gesture none of her these people would ever understand – but it meant something to her – if she could protect 'Lutetia', if she could foster and perfect it – it was quite possible that the Game could be won – and if the Game could be won, perhaps the words and works of the Messenger of Magic could be invalidated; for Civ granted wishes, true to letter AND spirit.

"_Oh no, we weren't the ones who betrayed them.  
You could say their wishes did though. Wishes are things that don't exist in the current reality.  
And anything that deviates from reality is bound to create a distortion. So why does it surprise anyone that these things end in disaster? It's the natural outcome after all. If they think that's some kind of betrayal, they shouldn't have made the wish in the first place." – Messenger of Magic_

Perhaps her people could save her if she had the right wish – find true peace for her an Justinian, even if only as a side effect, away from the undeath granted by Civ.

In this world, faith would never save you. You might as well exploit it for all it was worth - Her Pantheon was tailored for no victory condition in particular - it was a means to an end.

Her Pantheon was _Goddess of Love - +1 Happiness from cities with Population of 6_+ to allow early population growth without the strain of unhappiness (which was somewhat tastelessly funny considering her miserable past as a 'dancer').

Found a religion - Eastern Orthodoxy (if it was called the same thing, was it the same thing?).

_Founder Belief - Initiation Rites - +100 Gold when each City first converts to this religion_

_Follower Belief - Divine Inspiration - Each World Wonder provides +2 Faith in city_

_Bonus Belief - Religious Art - Hermitage provides +5 Culture and +5 Tourism_

* * *

In time, all tears run out. If eyes were the windows of the soul and crying was an opening of them, eventually all humid air is freshened and the windows may be closed again so that no drafts would grind against you – Crying was good for you – you just shouldn't let it define you - Kaname Madoka was learning this through experience and Gandhi let her do so. So Kaname Madoka, having cried her fair share, wiped the remaining tears off of her face.

Before her on the bench, Madoka could see a puddle – she cried a lot.

What did she see in that puddle? A reflection.

She saw herself, a young, weak, unimportant and meaningless girl who once could not make a difference without becoming a magical girl – a fate worse than death.

_Once._

Now, Kaname Madoka was in a position where she _meant _something. That was important to her.

No matter how much the universe threw at her, she felt she could stand. She had to, she had a responsibility! Even if Mitakihara's survival was a miracle given to her by some guardian angel, the fact remained that she herself willed and rallied the people of Mitakihara in an otherwise dark and desolate time.

She had the power; Civ was not only responsibilities – it was power – with great responsibility, there came great power – not only the inverse was true.

"_The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."_

Breathing deeply for air (a needless, yet still calming action), Kaname Madoka found her resolve again, unclouded by regret and where there was fear, she rationalised and dismissed it.

_Catherine is a strategic threat; if that is so, I will build a barracks and train archers – I will ensure my cities are better defended next time so that my people and I do not have to suffer the same pain again. I will train as many archers as my Unique Ability allows, ensuring there is no opening for anyone to exploit. I will establish a powerful economy so I can field as many archery units as possible – with that, my people and I can pursue a Cultural Victory in peace, so that I may use the wish at the end of the Game to remove the Incubators from existence._

_ "The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."_

_I won't know if I can win if I don't try – I have to go on, even if only for one more turn._

Her vision unobscured by tears or fear, Kaname Madoka grabbed the golden v-necklace around her neck, holding it with both hands and chanted what could be called a prayer.

* * *

**"I am Kaname Madoka. 'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.' My dream is beautiful beyond all comprehension. Thus the future belongs completely to me. I do not fear the future for I will shape the future.**

_**I WILL BUILD A CIVILIZATION THAT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME!**_"

* * *

_Continue your journey - Madoka_ affirmed.

The necklace shined and resonated in response – within an instant, Kaname Madoka was in that pink frilly dress she had so often dreamed about – the dress of what could've been a Magical Girl (and was indeed the dress of what she imagined she would where as a Magical Girl) but was now reclaimed from the Incubators to be the dress of a Leader Spirit; where there would've been a Soul Gem on her neck, there had, was and will always continue to be, the V of Civilization – the dress was hers alone, not the Incubators – it was hers to let her live up to the responsibility (and by extension, power) Civ had gifted to her.

Kaname Madoka closed her eyes, focusing her attention on her people, to see what other secrets that they held.

_Unique Building_: _Luminous Garden (_replaces Garden_) +25% Great Person generation. Does not require a source of fresh water. If an Archery unit is stationed in a city with a Luminous Garden, it will gain Culture per turn equal to 25% of that unit's Ranged Combat Strength (maximum of 10). _

Mitakihara had not researched theology yet – however, they possessed Mathematics – that meant the Hanging Gardens were available to her – the Hanging Gardens provided a free Garden in the city that was built – that would mean a reduced maintenance cost; even if it were minute, one or two gold could mean a large difference between weakness and strength; furthermore, whereas normal Gardens only provided +25% Great Person generation, the Luminous Garden provided her with a cultural bonus for having a garrison – critical to Policies, one of which had saved Mitakihara. And judging by the competitiveness of the other leaders, someone was bound to try and get the Hanging Gardens before she did.

"Gandhi – This is my strategy."

Gandhi turned his attention from meditation and towards Madoka.

"Mitakihara will build the Hanging Gardens – from past experience, that seems folly as it will leave me vulnerable to aggression – however, I am confident that whatever caused Catherine to retreat will be of continued trouble to her, so I have a breathing moment. Furthermore, the free Garden that it provides for everyone else provides me my Unique Building which grants me a cultural bonus and for free, so the benefits outweigh the potential risks. The Great Person bonus it will grant to me will be crucial for playing as a Tall Civilization to counter the raw resources available to the others. Additionally, the free food it provides will increase my population ahead of the others and a high city population means a high city defence so that will balance out in the long run Mitakihara not building its military. Thus, Mitakihara will build the Hanging Gardens."

Gandhi nodded in approval.

_"Don't let my tutelage hinder your innovation. Go for it!"_

"Yes!"

_Choose Production: __**The Hanging Gardens**_

_Choose Research: __**Construction**_

_Adopt Policy: __**Monarchy**_

Madoka willed her workers to repair Mitakihara.

* * *

Dido was a woman of cunning and intelligence – after all, she had established Carthage with land measured with only an ox-hide – and people of cunning and intelligence were naturally inclined to know their surroundings. Dido already had her suspicions that her spawn point was in vicinity of what would've been Rome; it only took the sight of the Po Valley by her people to confirm it.

Carthage on the River Tiber.

Dido let out a small chuckle. Civ had a silly little sense of humour didn't it? The last time, it was Tyre, the time before that, Mesopotamia…

Memories of Aeneas began flowing back. Memories were only memories but – they hardly moved Dido anymore – anyone trapped in this parody of an afterlife for millennia would be unable to truly feel.

Even the memory of Aeneas made her giggle a little bit – at the time she met him, she wasn't even born yet. It would've been silly to anyone who did not know of the secrets of the Puella Magi.

Once upon a time, Dido was the Mediterranean – she was not merely queen of it. In the First Existence, the Mediterranean as open to her as the sky – she commanded it, she could manipulate it, she could make it create the fiercest tempests, the calmest of days and through it she could see its past ,present and future.

Alas, in the current situation, Civ appropriated your abilities for the sake of your people.

_A Great General has been born!_

_ 'Well then, let's see what's on the other side of the Alps.'_

* * *

Mitakihara was by any standards, an ancient city. In the Game of Civilization, all Leaders made it a point to establish their cities in Neolithic times around the equivalent of 4000 BC – thus, when compared to the First Existence, the cities of Civ were inexplicably ancient – the archaeologists and historians of Civ often found themselves engaged in debates and discussions on why the major cities of the largest states in the world seemed to have been founded at the same time and remained to the present day; in the first existence, Beijing (1045 BC) could not be considered as being of the same age as the five millennia old Byblos (the oldest known continuously inhabited city in the world). Just as problematic for these archaeologists was the question of how the most ancient of buildings still managed to stand after at least five thousand years, as if in defiance of nearly all that would destroy them. This problem would be known in the future as the problem of Wonders – those ancient buildings that stood the test of time, defying war, fire, flooding, earthquakes, lightning and all of the elements – to those in the future, it would seem as if those buildings were under the protection of a some divine being that lived through the ages and ensured these buildings' survival.

On a more mundane note, the current people of Classical Mitakihara would not have to worry about this – as far as they were concerned, their written history had only existed for five hundred years and the vast majority of Mitakihara's people were illiterate – what history the majority of them knew existed in the form of oral history and said oral history did not cover the complex questions of what it meant to be a nation, or yet civilization; that would be a question for a brave new world, one wherein people were very much aware that there was something smaller than deities and spirits, yet greater than families and friends. In times like these, before the dawn of Ideology, the surest thing there ever was was the Goddess and the King.

In the aftermath of the ancient raids of Mitakihara by hordes from the east, a lot of things had changed. For one, it was now a monarchy – from the glances of those in the future, 'monarchy' carried a lot of baggage – one was led to think of tyranny, absolutism, excess, corruption and _droit du seigneur_ while peasants laboured days on end in the countryside until they died a death; a poor reward for their constant work. Regardless, the fact remained that the state centred on a monarch was a powerful means of organising society to obtain means and achieve ends – in times before industrialisation, the most critical concern of any society was having enough food to eat and monarchy accomplished that well. A bunch of constantly starving animals, fighting to eat to live for the next day, wallowing in primeval hedonism would be unable to achieve that or even contemplate Ideology.

* * *

_Golden Age has Dawned! Congratulations, your citizens have been happy with your rule for so long that the empire enters a Golden Age!_

_ A Great Prophet has been born in the City of Mitakihara!_

Madoka let out a small smile at the Game's announcement.

* * *

Monarchy exists because it is the most simple form of organisation for such brutish, day-to-day creatures that otherwise meaninglessly flounder abound and ensured a food surplus exist for Civilization to develop – from an entirely pragmatic viewpoint, its oppressiveness was irrelevant, just as the universe did not care about genocide or nuclear war. For surpluses ensured development of finer things such as culture and religion.

Speaking of those two, there is a tale that will be forever resonate throughout the ages, so long as Mitakihara exists; it is the tale of a musician and her blue-haired admirer – history does not repeat, but it does rhyme.

The bard 'Kyousuke' and the priestess-in-training 'Kyouko' were having a little dalliance in the Hanging Gardens, which was a royal project commissioned by King Tatsuya to ensure his subjects would not starve in the same way past Mitakiharans did during the Russian Deluge of generations past. Considering the purpose of the Garden, sooner or later, the Deluge was going to be brought up by one of them.

'Kyouko' in reality, had no true attraction to him, although she could see part of the charm; a bard could entertain, removing the daily boredom that characterised a life of dedication, whether it was to the Goddess or the fields – furthermore, by the rabble's standards, 'Kyousuke' was decidedly extremely handsome; but no, 'Kyouko' was doing it for 'Sayaka's' sake – to assess whether or not 'Kyousuke' was good enough for 'Sayaka' – part of that would be his intelligence – why 'Sayaka' was obsessed with a bard, 'Kyouko' didn't really know, but it was generally a bad sign when you were obsessed with that type of sentimental rubbish at all – does a bard know how to farm? Does he know how to inscribe, smith or even to rouse the subjects of the King? But who was she to judge 'Sayaka's' tastes?

'Tell me 'Kyousuke'."

"Hm?"

"Do you know about the Deluge?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course everyone knows about The Deluge and I'm a bard so of course I should know about it."

"What I mean is do you know about the specifics of The Deluge? What made them go away?"

"No one does…"

"Wrong. Do you know about the Goddess, 'Kamijou-kun'? The one at the Temple?"

"Ma… Her? What has she got to do with it?"

"She is the one that protected the city during its darkest hour."

What?

"She called upon the people of our city to give all of their energies, so that in a time of peace, Mitakihara would flourish again."

"'Kyousuke' was somewhat blank – for a bard who retold legends, he was surprisingly ignorant of the Goddess.

"Tell me more." 'Kyouko' was attractive somewhat. So what if she was one of those religious nutjob? Her company was somewhat enlightening.

'Kyousuke' leaned in, allowing 'Kyouko' to whisper into his ear.

In a high tier of the Garden under construction, a blue-haired girl jealously peered at 'Kyousuke'; 'Kyouko' better stay to her promise that she was just trying to determine his qualities!

* * *

_Found Religion: Church of Madoka_

_ Founder Belief: Tithe - _+1 Gold for every 4 followers of this religion.

_ Follower Belief: Swords into Plowshares - _15% faster Growth rate for city if not at war

All of this would ensure a strong economy even in times of war and discourage her enemies from declaring war on her.

* * *

_Religions that can still be founded – 4_

Sooner or later, someone was going to Enhance their religion and Dido needed God of the Seas.

* * *

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	7. Classical 07 - Mystery of the Wonders

Chapter 7 – Mystery of the Wonders

Madoka and Homura see bleak futures. Homura intends to stretch across the Earth. Madoka intends to pierce the Heavens.

* * *

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

Kaname Madoka did not know where she found herself; she had been focusing her mental energies on the construction of the Hanging Gardens. Now she found herself in a rather cramped area; before her were windows - apparently she was facing a bay - while to her left there was a spiral staircase and to her right, more of the platform she was standing on.

Her curiosity drove her to peer outside of the window; in particular, what struck her was the extremely disheartening sight to her left - rubble, rubble everywhere, building scaffolds for reconstruction all over the place - a complete and utter mess, with so much rubble some of it ran into the bay. Before her was a city in ruins, a city trying to rebuild itself after something... horrible. This reminded her of that lesson about the Tokyo firebombing - except that the damage seemed to have went far in excess of that firebombing - Tokyo 1945 was not a city of skyscrapers. In the Second World War, the vast majority of cities that underwent aerial bombing were not cities of skyscrapers and towers - they were spread more widely, resulting in a view that reminded one of a cigarette ashtray. The shambles before her was not such an ashtray. With its husks of steel and flattened apartments, it looked like a woman that had been tortured and burnt.

In short, the sight was horribly depressing. Enough to extract a whimper from Madoka, her stocking-clad-knees growing weak and wobbling at the soul-crushing sight of a devastated world city. Had she not realised that she was somewhere very high, she probably would've lost her balance at the the sadness tearing into her heart.

Madoka swallowed her heartache and further surveyed the tragic sight before her; there was a couple of oddities. In the sea of husks of steel and rubble, several things remained standing, as if protected by a deity from whatever forces had wrecked the rest of the city. They stood tall - while some looked terribly aged, brown and stained yellow, they still seemed to stand, defying nature and man alike.

In the distance, a statue stood, arms outstretched as if beckoning the weary to his embrace.

More of these distinctive buildings that stood triumphant were in the wreck of an island she had seen to her left.

A pyramid of glass, radiating an aura that seemed to lift even her own heart, shaken by the destruction before her.

A thatched circular building, that seemed to speak of timeless tales.

Amongst the rubble, a wide street that still bustled with melodic energy, seemingly ignorant of the destruction around it.

A plain long building, which nonetheless radiated tales of creation.

What seemed to be a museum with a courtyard, speaking of the creative energies of the world.

A tower which leaned, in its own imperfection calling others to be perfect.

A fragile tower of porcelain, which still stood, wishing to see the future.

That tower everyone knew, the Eiffel Tower, which in its scintillating mechanicalness, still captivated the weary of heart.

A small temple that spoke of defence and of life.

In conjunction with a terraced garden that wished for ends to be met so that posterity could follow the same path.

Those last two buildings spoke volumes about where she was. This was Mitakihara City in the future, after some terrible, devastating war that probably made her encounter with Catherine look like tickles.

As if in response to this epiphany, footsteps came from below her. Someone was making their way through the staircase.

_"I certainly went through a lot of trouble to build our Civilization_." The voice was familiar - it possessed that level-headedness Madoka had fawned after in her mother, but held a wistfulness that hinted to herself.

Turning sideways, Kaname Madoka saw the outline of a long-haired woman in a suit, carrying a glass bottle, precariously making her way up the staircase. As she made herself up, the features of the woman became more distinct to her - baggy eyes filled with a strange mixture of depression with hope, a pink hair more paler than hers, speaking of sleeplessness and exhaustion, her left hand holding onto a clear glass bottle conspicuously labelled "WODKA". The young woman, her long hair, frizzled tangled and coarse, reeked powerfully of alcohol - and it wasn't the whiskey breath that Madoka connected with her mother Junko - the smell was far more sharper and brutal.

The young woman before Madoka spoke, her speech, though slurred and in a language other than Japanese, still was understood by Madoka perfectly.

_"Remember when you asked Mama in the First Existence about how to help Sayaka while she was drinking at night? And how you wanted to drink with her when you grew up? That's not gonna happen here."_

Wait. How did she know about that? The only people...

The realisation hit Madoka in the face; she should've known it earlier. Before her was Kaname Madoka in the future.

The other Madoka made her way upstairs, tugging onto the railing to make for her drunken lack of balance.

"What happened?"

_"War of course. Can't give you the specifics however, or it'll be wholesale cheating. But I'll tell you this - you will never drink with 'Kaname Junko' in Civ. They're nearly all dead. Even Tatsuya. And Sayaka always dies like a bitch. And no matter how much you know that they are copies it's still depressing as shit. And it's self-fulfilling shit as well, so even if what I tell you is futile, accept their deaths."_

Madoka never knew she could be that blunt. She was so blunt to herself that her heartstrings were further tugged and her eyes grew watery. Not only at the deaths, but also what had happened to herself.

_"I know what you're thinking, you're myself from the past - know this - even if I ended up like this, it's still worth it. We've won."_

_"Still, I feel like I've lost so much."_

Madoka could see what the other Madoka meant; she had turned into a spirit-drinking wreck, exhausted, yet still hopeful.

_"I know; hope is painful - Don't retire yet but - there's still the net gain from the Victory Wish."_

_"Before I go, I'll tell you this - you know those Wonders you just saw? Build them! They'll be your saving grace. The Wonder you're in is the Statue of Liberty. Pick the Freedom Ideology for that."_ Madoka from the future gave Madoka a list of the Wonders' names.

Madoka from the future continued.

_"Don't bulb your Great Scientists - spam academies with them. Spam them everywhere. Spam them anywhere!"_

_"I personally can't wait to get out of Civ - it's morbid as Hell with the copies actually being real people. ****ing surreal shit."_

Madoka from the future began making her way down the staircase. "_Remember to talk to your past self when you become me like now."_

Thus, she continued to make her way downstairs, but not before one more instruction.

_"Whatever you do, past me; don't lose hold of your beliefs - they're the reason why I still have some semblance of sanity. Never betray your beliefs, past me. No matter how cynical you get, remember that they're ideals worth struggling for. They hurt, but they still mean something to me. If they do not reflect the real world, then they exist to be imposed onto it. They mean something to me, past me."_

_"Well then, Auf Wiedersehen, past me!"_ Madoka had rarely before encountered such a combination of bitterness and hope.

* * *

Homura found that she was no longer in her Command Realm; instead, she was on a red balcony overlooking a square. Under her, thousands of troops were arrayed, parading, their goosesteps quite audible.

To her far right, Homura could see a bespectacled woman with short black hair in a black jumpsuit reviewing the troops. Nonetheless, the square with its troops attracted more attention than her and Homura turned her attention back to the square.

Several buildings seized her attention. It almost seemed like they were sentient, for it felt like they _demanded _her attention.

A clock that impressed upon her the essence of efficiency.

A complex of palaces connected with the very idea of 'control'.

A pentagonal building that spoke of constant rejuvenation.

Those eternal Pyramids of Giza that spoke of constant toil and effort to improve the world.

The place she stood on – it told her that it was a fortress that was the embodiment of defiance.

The only question that these buildings did not answer was where she was.

_"The answer is obvious." _To her right was that woman in the jumpsuit from earlier. Evidently, she was a fellow Leader Spirit; the language was not Japanese, but Homura understood it clearly nonetheless.

'The answer is obvious?'

-Pyramids… She was building them…

This was New Mitakihara!

_"Correct." _Homura looked at the woman in black, who adjusted her red glasses. Her eyes seemed absolutely empty; if Homura's eyes along with her face could be said to be cold, the woman's eyes could be said to be absolute zero, completely soulless, devoid of any life whatsoever – Homura could insinuate from this that the owner of those eyes had experienced something far worse than being forced to shoot Madoka's Soul Gem.

What did she experience? What was worse than being forced to kill Kaname Madoka?

No answer but a glance came from the woman.

_"Akemi Homura." _Homura's attention was renewed.

_"Do you love Kaname Madoka?" _The somewhat insulting question (for it questioned her dedication and the pain and suffering she had undergone to try and save her) was one that Akemi Homura always knew the answer to.

"Yes."

_"Rather, how do you love Madoka?" _Before, Homura could answer, the woman in the black jumpsuit continued.

_"Do you love her like you'd love a pet canary, locked up in a cage or do you actually love her?"_

Had Homura still had access to her Magical Girl powers, she would've shot the woman for the impudence. What right did she have to question her love for Madoka?

The short-haired woman took off her glasses.

Homura would've seen the woman for who she was sooner, were it not the short hair, jumpsuit, glasses and empty eyes – before Homura was herself, scarred by some terrible reckoning or cataclysm.

What was on Homura's mind however was not her future self, but the implications of her future self having such an expression devoid of life.

Homura clung onto her future self's shoulders, eyes opened wide in fear.

"What happened to Madoka?"

_"If I told you here and now, you'd break faster than Kyouko's Soul Gem getting shot by Mami; you'll only be able to handle it if you've gone through what I've gone through. What I can tell you is that she's still alive."_

That was good enough for Homura. That was good enough.

_"If you truly love Madoka, if you truly want to save her, those Wonders you saw – build them."_

The Wonders and their names were imprinted onto Homura's mind.

_ "The one good thing I can say about myself now is that I managed to save her, if nothing else."_

_"The ideology you should pick is Order – that will let you build the Kremlin. The 50% reduction in production costs of Armor Units is critical to saving her."_

_ "That's all I have to say. __再見__."_

One question remained unanswered; what happened to Madoka in the future to kill off the remainders of that Akemi Homura's feelings?

* * *

Wu Zetian had seen her future in the current iteration of this eternal game.

That red fortress of Iberia that inspired fighters to remain disciplined no matter what the circumstance.

That eternal army that remarked 'quantity has a quality of its own.'

Another fort, not as great as its Russian counterpart, but hardy nonetheless.

A Wonder that was a city in itself, that made deserts oases.

That tomb that returned some credence to "Great Man" historiography.

Another Wonder that was a city in itself, which resonated the sound of turning wheels.

A temple-school that, if it had been used to its fullest potential in the First Existence, could've made South-East Asia a different place.

Yet another Wonder of a city, one which prolonged the greatness of a nation.

Thus Empress Wu Zetian had seen which Wonders had chosen her.

* * *

A castle that encapsulated 'defence of one's homeland no matter what the cost'.

An eternal temple that would draw all to it.

A temple that saw the future and for convenience's sake gave it to the past.

A cathedral, known as 'our lady', which to the desperate and floundering, meant something.

Walls which would guard and continue to guard until fire would consume them.

These were Empress Maria Theresa's Wonders – or rather, Maria Theresa was whom those Wonders owned.

* * *

A seaside resort, actually a sinister prison to hold captive the minds of fools and commoners to prevent rebellion.

That Statue which willed all onwards to final conquest.

Those Gates which stood tall and willed into said conquerors the strength of a thousand battles.

A relatively ('relatively', because there were Leaders who would never be chosen by any Wonder) bleak and empty future awaited Russia when it came in terms of Wonders. No matter – if she could not play Tall, we would play Wide and playing Wide played to her advantage – her Unique Ability Siberian Riches made all the strain of running a Wide Civilization worth it.

A future of the truest Forms of Conquest and War awaited her. Whether it was the means or ends was ultimately irrelevant – the sword and the book went hand in hand. She was not Ashurbanipal, but she was not a failure of a Leader like Boudicca to fall early either due to lack of Science neglected for Culture.

These were Empress Catherine's Wonders.

* * *

Those filthy _rats_ had a habit of trying to taint the greatest products of human history in order to stretch on the meaningless charade of existence. Boldly, they had often proclaimed that they were the reason why the female specimens of humanity were sometimes dotted visibly throughout its annals.

_保育器_ had once tried to tempt Wu Zetian. They promised her power beyond which she could imagine. _Zhongguo would be able to live to its full name as the centre of the world, even before Modernity._ Her reply was simple – turn them into _human pigs_.

A brutal practice, it involved gouging off their eyes, cutting off their tongues (even if it did nothing), amputating off their limbs and making them wallow in their own filth to be sustained by tenders. Usually this was reserved for her political rivals, but the _rats _were just as despicable. So she let the _rats_ make contracts with the other females in her court to get rid of them – and the moment it asked her…

Wu Zetian was well known as a woman with blood on her hands. It didn't help that only she could see the _rat_ and thus only she was able to make a _human pig_ out of it – even if the _rat's_ blood was invisible, it still felt as if someone were watching.

The sight of a squirming _human pig_ of a _rat _still begging her to make a contract was a highly amusing one. Even millennia trapped in this twisted little macrocosm did not fail to make the memory a little bit refreshing.

* * *

Silesia was not worth her soul. Europe was not worth her soul. A utopian future for the rest of the world was not worth her soul. Maria Theresa never entered into a contract with those vermin, no matter how many other members of her court wanted to dabble in such questionable practices.

Still, _die Inkubatoren_'s presence was welcome. They were quite the novelties to use on breaking wheels.

* * *

Why memories of that vile little _чёрт _surfaced after seeing her future Wonders, Catherine did not know. However, she did know that whenever that little piece of shit chirped to her whether or not to trade her soul for more than Siberia that a lot of fun was going to occur between it and her steeds – hanging and quartering to be precise.

Shame someone had to make a bestiality joke out of it just because they didn't see the shitlet.

* * *

In Wu Zetian's mind: "An Empress…"

* * *

In Maria Theresa's mind: "…is not…"

* * *

In Catherine's mind: "…a Puella Magi!"

* * *

An Empress was not a Magical Girl. The pride of an Empress laid in the belief that all of those achievements accomplished in their time could be credited to herself, not some supernatural abomination. This was necessarily and absolutely true for every one of them except the Roman one.

If a true Empress had contracted with the Incubators, it would've meant practically infinite power approaching that of Gods they no longer believed in. In they had contracted with the Incubators, by leagues unmatched until after their time, they could've reversed entropy. If they had contracted with the Incubators, they could've become the most powerful Witches had they fallen into despair. 'If'. As cruel as they may be reputed to be, they still believed in humanity – what evils and goods they used to shape the world would be their own. Reflected in this were their Unique Abilities – 'Art of War', 'Siberian Riches' and 'Diplomatic Marriage' could hardly be said to be 'magical'.

An Empress was not a Magical Girl.

* * *

It was one fleeting moment, but to Homura, it was a portent of her dedication being rewarded.

Seated in a field of pure green, Homura found herself next to Madoka. Homura found herself in that black jumpsuit of her future self, with Madoka clad in a beautifully sharp suit. Just as Madoka was about to nuzzle her… that future was rudely snatched away.

* * *

A world that spanned far and wide for Madoka. Rolling fields of grain and tractors as far as the eyes could see. From ocean to ocean, mountain to mountain, river to river. Continent to continent, bounded by railways as far as the eyes could see. A Civilization unmatched in width and length. Steaming jungles, freezing Norths and Souths, the densest forests, the mightiest mountains.

For one moment, Homura felt relieved as the Wonder that was the Pyramids invigorated her Civilization.

_Tile improvement construction speed increased by 25%_

_Two Workers appear near the City._

Far and wide she would search for Madoka, far and wide her people would build. No matter how many millennia of continued literal heartache…

_"Madoka… I will find you!"_

* * *

Madoka found herself back in her Command Realm. The radiance of the completed Hanging Gardens were shining to her, but that was secondary. What was on her mind at the moment, rather, was that vision she just had.

"Gandhi, I saw the Wonders in the future and… they spoke to me."

The otherwise meditating Gandhi raised his head and responded.

_"__The Wonders are eternal. If it could be said that the speed of light is the same throughout the universe, it could be said that that the Wonders remain the same throughout Civilization. You have a seen a vision with a high probability of occurring."_

"Mitakihara seemed to be devastated."

_"__The Wonders tend to show the best outcome possible."_

"Then will my future be that bad?"

_"__You could try to change it by ignoring their calls, but it would probably be worst."_

…

Madoka considered Gandhi's words.

"If the numbers mean anything… I saw a future with 12 Wonders."

_"__Then indeed, that future is the best outcome possible."_ It was rare that someone could manage that many.

"So if I desire to even stand a chance, I have to build them? My greatest doubt is that it'll leave Mitakihara vulnerable like when Catherine attacked…"

Madoka remained silent for a moment, but then continued:

"…But I said millennia ago I wanted to create a world worth living in… So be it."

Madoka focused on Mitakihara's newest creation.

_Hanging Gardens. +6 Food and Free Garden. Unique Building Replacement Constructed – Free Luminous Garden. +25% Great Person generation. Does not require a source of fresh water. If an Archery unit is stationed in a city with a Luminous Garden, it will gain Culture per turn equal to 25% of that unit's Ranged Combat Strength (maximum of 10)._

Henceforth, Madoka was reaffirmed in building a Civilization that would stand the test of time. Ever higher and higher, it would build into the skies. From a simple village, it would rise in the world's mightiest City. It would scratch and poke and stab the skies in its eternal refutation of the Incubator's suggestion humanity couldn't have developed without it. For ever and ever it would rise and rise into the Heavens, until 'height' itself ultimately failed as a concept. Mitakihara would rise like a weapon of humanity's defiance. Unlike Icarus and Babel, it would not would not fall, for unlike Icarus, its foundation was made of that truest emotion, Hope and unlike Babel, it was made not for the glorification of one man, but for that one concept.

"A world worth living in is ultimately a world filled with Hope."

* * *

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	8. Classical 08 - Cathago Delenda Est

Chapter 8 - Carthago Delenda Est

Homura prays for Madoka's safety. Madoka is beset by fiends. The beauty of her dreams stand.

* * *

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I own neither "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" nor "Sid Meier's Civilization V".

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

**"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." – Sun Tzu**

* * *

In a place outside the space and time of the Game proper, yet still bound to it in time, a young woman stood for eons, focusing her mind on the creation and building of a nation that would millennia later be the bridge that would connect her to her loved one. From numbers and **statistics**, the lives of millions of peasants and labourers would be transformed into the building blocks for her to realise her dream. Outside of the Game, she had spent decades in an endless time loop to try and save her beloved. Inside of it, she had spent centuries to build Neo-Mitakihara. Seasons passed by, her own mind conscious of the passing of time, the weariness it inflicted on her raw and strong as hundreds of years in real life would feel like – it fact, this was accompanied by a strong, ever-present heart-ache that seemed to be the Game's method of communicating to her that as a nation they were unhappy. Living in abject squalor and filth to die of the common cold and drown in their own diarrhoea, with the more fortunate elderly ones tended to by their children who had not yet committed suicide due to the bleakness of their existences, marked by constant toiling in the rice paddies to then retreat into their hovels to encounter the awful fact that they contracted dysentery or some other awful disease of **poverty**, one could say that the people of Neo-Mitakihara lived happy lives, in the sense Hell was cold or popular music by high-pitched adolescent Canadian boys was sophisticated. Yet, the mediocrity and **poverty** of her people did not disturb her. Those ragged masses, toiling day and night were but a means to an end; they existed to gather all the resources of the world for the singular purpose of creating a machine to ensure her loved one's safety in this world. Whatever collective complaints that had that then flowed into her mind were generally irrelevant; true, Homura did recognise the importance of Happiness – it was necessary for future growth (emphasis on 'future') that the expanse that was Neo-Mitakihara may one day rise and emerge into the weapon to protect the one she loved – but in order for that future said colossal machine to actually exist, she would require as much land as possible – that meant settling new Cities left and right, that meant pain, that meant abject **poverty**, that meant exploitation and bureaucracy – but what did it matter? The tremendous heart-pain she went through in the pursuit of this cause of creating the greatest arsenal ever, the headaches and all those other sympathetic pains that were the result of expanding too much ultimately meant nothing. The groans of **poverty** and disease that made it into her mind from her people also meant little. The seasons passed and nameless thousands died of old age in **poverty**, their lives filled with the crushing misery of existences deprived of luxury and beauty, brutal and filled with daily subsistence agriculture and Akemi Homura felt all the sadness pour onto her heart like the vicious, boiling contents of a crucible, with said misery in turn cramping her heart more and more.

All of this torment would've seemed meaningless to a spectator. There were more painless roads to victory, ones that did not require bearing all the burdens of the world like a yoke. But Akemi Homura wanted to be sure, to make sure no-one and nothing would hurt the one she loved. In the future, she was expecting that she would meet **_Madoka_** and by extension people who wanted to hurt her. Thus Akemi Homura would build this gigantic **armoury**, no, she would _become_ a gigantic **armoury** in order to vanquish said threats. **Armouries** were not entirely places where one could find happiness, but that did not matter. Outside of the game, for more than a third of her perceived life, she had known nothing more than **armouries**. If protecting Madoka meant knowing nothing more than **armouries** and forges and mosquito-ridden rice paddies for six millennia, then so be it!

The pain of Akemi Homura and the pain of Neo-Mitakihara meant nothing. For they were as **statistics**, **statistics** to protect Kaname Madoka. The people of Neo-Mitakihara and Akemi Homura herself were **statistics** to serve as an **armoury** and a **shield** for her, so that she herself might not be pained.

Still, the terrible pain and burden of playing terribly wide got to Akemi Homura. She wanted relief from this constant heartache, at least some soothing of her and her people's pain.

**_Adopt Policy_**_: Meritocracy +1 Happiness for each City you own connected to the Capital and -5% Unhappiness from Citizens in non-occupied Cities._

As if it were a drug, Akemi Homura revelled in the relief it provided her through and through, the pain in her chest, still present but fading away. She turned to one of the benches in her Command Realm and reclined herself on one of them, swallowing the surge of relief that filtered through her.

She could only hope, that out there, in the vast wide world without her, Madoka was safe.

* * *

Kaname Madoka could only hope, that in the vast wide world before her, some cosmic law or principle governed, that set judgement upon aggressors and brought justice to their victims; she could only hope that in the Universe, 'good always wins in the end' was a kind of truth that, even if tragically it did not apply physically and literally that it was true at least metaphorically – in the same sense that although the native peoples of the Americas were virtually extirpated, their tales of survival still resonated throughout time, with the vast majority of people in the future, if not viewing the likes of the Conquistadors and those who carried out Manifest Destiny as pure villains, at least acknowledging that they were not just in their aggression or conquest. Kaname Madoka hoped at that the very least, 'good always wins in the end' was true in that regard – true in the sense, that in the future, beyond the grasp of unjust victors, who even time crumbles (hopefully), the judgement of history would at least paint her and her civilization victim of an unjust crime rather than celebrate the aggressors and glorify their conquests and plunder. It was this hope to which Kaname Madoka held onto as the pain of thousands of elephants stamping on her grew and grew, having once forced her onto the benches as she clutched her chest in pain. The pain of broken legs, too, was intense, so for now, in defence of Mitakihara, Madoka found herself returning to the benches, the blunt and brutal pain too debilitating for her to stand up as was her usual position when focusing her will onto her Civilization.

Her meeting with Dido had been brief. A woman of many words (or at least, more eloquent than Madoka, who, as with Catherine centuries before (and there was no sign of Catherine's presence returning for a peace-treaty any time soon), had confounded Madoka with her verbosity) Dido had given Madoka a small history lesson on her first meeting – one about the rise and fall of Carthage, a civilization that had existed a long time ago in the Southern Mediterranean and was destroyed and subsumed by Rome. Dido had related to Madoka about the annoyance she felt of how the people of the First Existence glorified Rome, despite its vile habits of enslavement and conquest. Madoka felt a tinge of regret in Dido – the regret only found in one who had lost something for sake of something else – and was quite ready to open her heart to her.

If Madoka could credit anyone in this Game with her Civilization's continued survival, it would be her tutor, Gandhi.

Apparently, Dido was another one of those two-faced, scheming lying opportunists who tried to capitalise on their competitors' weaknesses. Perhaps worse than Catherine, Dido had tried to soften Madoka's heart with a tale of injustice and vanquishment. If someone saw the fruits of their labours be destroyed and razed, would you not feel sorry for them? If a Leader emotionally stated that their purpose in the Game was to acquire the wish so that they might at least restore dignity to the divided and injured First Existence's lands of Lebanon (_"Phoenicia, as it was known long ago." _Dido herself said) and Tunisia (_"Qart-ḥadašt was its greatest city and although my people still exist, they exist precariously, ever on the brinks of destroying themselves."_), would you not also to be inclined to feel sympathy and them and desire to open your heart to their tale? Would you not wish to destroy the unjust victories of Rome, that conquered and plundered and received fame and acclaim in posterity for its crimes, by acknowledging the victim's tale? Madoka had even desired to form a Declaration of Friendship with her, a bond that would tie each other's' civilizations (and by extension, the hearts and minds of their Leaders, essentially a special bond) fates together; that would've been done by Madoka trading her red ribbons for Dido's belt or some other trinket from each other's Command Realms – she really genuinely felt for Dido's tale. Gandhi's informing Madoka or her Dido's true nature really saddened Madoka – would she have no true friends in this Game of six millennia? However, it also prepared her for the worst case scenario – this.

Still reeling from the sympathetic pain from the elephants' stampede, Kaname Madoka willed Mitakihara to resist.

_Feared elephant: Combat penalty for all adjacent enemies._

That was a problem. Madoka had to select her targets carefully… her one saving grace was the Archer inside Mitakihara and the city-proper itself.

_Feared elephant: Combat penalty for all __**adjacent**__ enemies._

The realization struck her like lightning. Only Archers adjacent to the Elephants would be affect by it; thus the task at hand was to use what few troops were not affected by 'Feared Elephant' to destroy those Units exerting that aura so as to relieve the other Archers of the fear and allow them to counterattack repeating the cycle and thus destroying Dido's troops.

Then there were the Catapults to contend with; if she could destroy them, this siege of elephant stamps and crushing would be effectively over – without those Catapult, Mitakihara's defences would not break and thus an all-out attack on the city would only result in Dido's defeat.

Kaname Madoka focused her will on her garrisoned Archer.

_City Ranged attack: Westernmost elephant._

* * *

Dido winced as the pain of a thousand stones bit her. To be honest, in hindsight, attacking without intelligence was a bad idea. What Dido was relying on her belief that this girl (whom she never seen any record before in the Civilopedia, though she was going to refer to it after this conflict ended) was inexperienced and thus would ultimately be unable to respond even if she had been tutored by _Gandhi_ (that nuclear demon of all people!)

She'd bear whatever was going to be thrown at her.

For the sake of lifting the spirit of war and bringing peace from Canaan to Carthage (or whatever they were called now), she would bear all the pain in the world. The living heirs of Carthage and Phoenicia were more worthy of dignity than her, dead and trapped in this depressing underworld with no hope of relief.

She'd blame the weasel if the link between its contract and her imprisonment was clear – unfortunately for her, even after hundreds of repetitions of the Game, she could not see any clear link between it and her situation.

* * *

Kaname Madoka did not know exactly the origin of her Unique Ability as a Civilization leader. She did not know why when she was a Civ leader she was dressed in that costume she had imagined long ago with Mami (the memories of Mami brought back a certain fire in her heart to struggle in this Game to the end – somehow, Madoka hoped use that wish to revive her outside the Game).

_"I'm not afraid of anything anymore.  
Because I'm not alone anymore." – Tomoe Mami, before her final battle._

There was a time and a place to cry, but no matter how accustomed Madoka grew to the painstaking real-time monotony and tedium of constantly being the driving spirit behind the people of Mitakihara in the Ancient and Classical eras, certain memories of events outside of Civ reminded why she was here and thus at least wetted her eyes.

_'To remove the Incubators from human history – so that Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko never needed to die!'_

It could be granted to Kaname Madoka, that in the process of being the driving force behind her people's actions, that, by seeing through the tragedies and ordeals of their (relatively) short lives, she had developed a certain acceptance of the inevitability of loss, that made her less likely to collapse in tears every time newborn Citizens died of the inevitable infectious diseases that made being an infant so deadly; The Madoka that was a Civ leader had seen through her people's many deaths and came to accept it as a fact of life that always rang true through history. However, in doing so, she also saw that for every death, more lives would follow, occasionally treading similar paths and reminding her of her friends that had so unfairly died early deaths. Thus, regardless of how dampened the impact of a Citizen's death was to her now, she took every death for what it was – a tragedy, ends to tales to be remembered so none of them had died in vain.

In the memory of Tomoe Mami, Kaname Madoka reinforced her determination to strike down the aggressor.

Her people had the gift of the 'Arrow of Hope' – the Unique Ability for Archery-class units to attack twice when stationed in a City or Citadel – and indeed, Kaname Madoka would show to treacherous Dido the meaning of the Arrow of Hope! This would be her counterattack!

_Ranged Attack: Westernmost Elephant._

_Repeat using Unique Ability!_

* * *

As Dido withstood the sympathetic pain, she noticed something.

_'The Archers in the city fired twice.'_

* * *

The Elephants that had shadowed her south-western Archers were annihilated. Her task of destroying Dido's strategy was not yet finished, however.

Madoka moved her south-western Archer south-west. Free of any of the Elephants' Zone of Control, it retained one of its movement points. Her western archer was shifted into the position that had been vacated and again, free of any zone of control, it retained its movement points.

Madoka willed both of them:

_Ranged attack: Westernmost catapult!_

* * *

Dido's strategy was beginning to be compromised – her westernmost Catapult was significantly damaged – it could draw no further fire without destruction.

Perhaps she did underestimate the new girl – then again, Dido was known to have a habit of being rasher than other Leader Spirits.

_Perhaps this is why I never win._

Still, until certain defeat stared her in the face, Dido would not stop her attack.

* * *

There were the remaining Elephants to deal with. Having expended her City attacks, Madoka could not hope to destroy any of the remaining four Elephants. The best she could do was injure them. All of her Archers east of the river were somehow adjacent to one of the Elephants, compromising her ability to retaliate – thus the question was, which one of them to target?

_Economy of force, economy of force…_

Next Turn, Madoka would be able to utilise her City attacks again on either the south-western elephants or the west-south-western elephants.

_South-western._

In a Mitakihara in the future, she would come to learn that there was a name for her choice; _oblique order._ In the meanwhile, it was just a carefully calculated attack; weaken the western flank of the attack, concentrate and bring over her non-garrison forces west of the river on the next turn to annihilate or at least render irrelevant said weakened western flank, then use her city forces to attack and annihilate the new western flank and transfer and then finally use her formerly west-of-river forces to destroy the siege by destroying the catapults – whatever Elephants left would be strategically insignificant due to lack of support for the siege.

_Here goes nothing…_

_Ranged attack!_

* * *

Compared to bullets and bombs, the sympathetic pain of arrows did not hurt that much – the pain was more sharp and precise – if Dido could not gain strategic momentum in the early game, she would find herself facing a hard time in the late-game – the exponentially more savage nature of warfare in the Modern Era was too excessive for one whose living memories were of triremes and ship-rams.

The prospect of being a backwater in the Modern Era was very real…

* * *

Evidently, Dido still maintained that she had a strategic edge over Madoka; Madoka clutched onto her lower stomach, feeling quite horrifyingly the tortured screams and pains of her people as the westernmost Elephant and Catapult pillaged and did the associated so as to make up for their lack of logistical skill.

'All the more reason to annihilate them.'

Her easternmost Archer having been pretty much been annihilated – the stamping of elephants was still fresh on her chest, Madoka prepared to execute the plans she had calculated.

Madoka willed her south-wester Archers further south-west; two units of Archers now faced the half-restored catapult.

_Ranged attack!_

The catapult now faced imminent destruction – the farms immediately south of Mitakihara still were pillageable, but for it to enter was for it to face certain destruction – actually, it was already facing certain destruction; that would come a bit later.

_City ranged attack!_

The Elephants south-east of city were about to be destroyed.

Madoka willed her westernmost Archers from the hills to the east. From them would come the coup de grace – her two garrison attacks were to be reserved for Elephants further east.

_Ranged attack!_

And behold, the elephants fell! – Three elephants left to go.

Madoka willed her garrison to attack the west-south-western elephant.

_Ranged attack!_

_Repeat, Arrow of Hope!_

The heavily injured Archers south-east could not hope to contend with the remaining enemies – but this was where the catapults came in – and where they would come out – they lied on the brink of destruction and so did her south-eastern Archers – she might as well let them fight one last final stand.

_Ranged attack!_

* * *

Dido would've been deluding herself if she were to believe that any chance of victory now with that catapult destroyed.

_Retreat to live another day._

* * *

One more turn in – and the Carthaginians were retreating.

Exhausted, tormented, Madoka was glad. This was an eon to remember, one she could claim as one of her more successful ones in defence of the realm.

An unwelcome presence established itself in her command realm.

_Catherine._

* * *

In the First Existence, the island of Crete was known as being critical (along with Cyprus) for control of the Eastern half of the Mediterranean – thus, Dido had driven her people to settle it as the city of Gades.

The rocky cliffs of Crete, like all Mediterranean cliffs, were beautiful particular when viewed alongside its pristine, blue waters. More than that, they were excellent points of surveillance – and just as Balthazar was about to admire the sheer beauty of the sight before him, - surely something created by Yam (Phoenician and by extension Carthaginian, god of the seas) – something alien seized and otherwise sleepy eyes.

They were not those fine ships Carthaginians were renowned for – they were shoddy, basic triremes – yet even then, they seemed to number in the hundred – pirates, some could confuse them for, but the discipline with which they sailed point to something truly terrifying to the Classical mind.

What if your country wasn't the only one out there? What if there were other 'people' (for in many languages, the endonym for one's ethnic group often meant 'people') like you, except they were different?

What if those people you saw below the cliffs were brandishing swords?

Balthazar could not further think – a hundred arrows had gone through him.

* * *

Negotiations were easier than thought. Catherine had apologised (though Madoka was now wary of any gestures of goodwill from her or anyone) and their desires for peace were transmitted to their peoples. On her own initiative, Catherine promised to give Madoka 5 GPT – a measly sum, but a sign of an attempt at détente nonetheless.

In the First Existence, the first ever known peace treaty to exist was the Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty dated to 1259 BC – it was an actual peace treaty after a war.

This treaty was different in that it, from the world of Civ, it looked like bandits bowing before a king and promising to give him tribute for years to come.

However, for Madoka, the certainty of peace was important.

* * *

As the connections between their two Command Realms faded, Catherine's thoughts turned to something else – Crete.

* * *

Control of the Baltic would mean, in the future, control of very substantial crude oil reserves; thus, Theodora willed her Dromons and embarked Cataphracts eastwards. A pink aura, the aura of a Cultural Border, was felt by her to the south.

_'No-one among the Leaders I know has a pink aura.'_

Regardless, the Baltic would be hers!

* * *

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	9. Classical 09 - Oktavia von Seckendorff

Chapter 9 – Oktavia von Seckendorff

The legend of a Great General is born. The world is partitioned by the strongest. Madoka still believes in the beauty of her dreams.

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

_Ranged Attack: Target embarked Cataphract!_

Madoka willed her Composite Bowmen to target the routing Cataphracts north of the city; this was not about revenge – this was about crippling Theodora's offensive capabilities so that any further attempts to dominate Mitakihara would waste her efforts and energies.

The world of Civilization was violent and brutal – unlike with Dido or Catherine, Theodora had not even bothered to contact Madoka before declaring war on her.

Rubbing her forearms, which felt like they had been badly burnt, Madoka focused her mind back on Mitakihara.

_Adopt Policy: Aesthetics –_ This was instrumental for the Cultural Victory.

_A Great General has been born! Oktavia von Seckendorff!_

'Oktavia von Seckendorff' – the name did not exactly make sense to Madoka – but it did bring back memories – memories of a certain friend who lost herself.

History does not repeat, but it does rhyme – What Madoka saw was the tragedy of a woman who had lost everything that mattered to her and thus was forever lost in an orchestra of swords with no respite save death.

* * *

History does not repeat, but it does rhyme and for the case of blue-haired women it always rhymed. This was the tale of Oktavia von Seckendorff, a woman who had lost all that had mattered to her and in her desire to retrieve what she had lost, had only found an orchestra of war and swords; in the end, she did not retrieve anything. All she found at the long road of her struggle was a beach full of swords – her beloved did not return.

Stretching east to west before her was a beach full of the corpses of Byzantine pirates and Mitakiharan soldiers. Arrows and ashes from Dromon fire dotted the landscape, the remains of a cataclysmic clash between invader and innocent. No place she turned to was void of the thousands of corpses of defender and aggressor alike pierced by arrows, charred by Greek fire. The beach was a testament to the futility of her struggle – indeed, Mitakihara had been saved from the pirate horde. In the salvation of Mitakihara however, Oktavia did not accomplish what she had taken up the sword for.

_To bring back 'Kyousuke'._

Killing thousands upon thousands of those wretched pirates, who had stolen from her her beloved 'Kyousuke', had not brought him back; if anything, it further mocked his deaths, as the countless charred corpses of Mitakiharan archers laced the beach, their shells evidence of a horrific death by fire – that was how he died as well – In fire cast from the pirates' ships, her beloved had been destroyed.

She remembered that day bitterly. 'Kyousuke' had invited her to a walk just between the two of them on the beach – within the last few days, he had been fidgety around her – it had been as if he was about to confess to her.

That day so many years ago was rudely interrupted by fire.

* * *

"'_Sayaka', I-"_

* * *

The only thing she still had from that day was that memory and a gigantic burn scar on her right hand from trying futilely to save him. His lyre had burnt into ashes, nothing of it remaining – the Greek fire had been so potent, that when she had tried to retrieve his body at night, it only crumbled – she had lost a dream and went through this nightmare of blood and fire to see if he could be avenged.

The only thing she still had from that day were her scars, which still itched to this day and the memories of 'Kyousuke's' screams as he burnt to death. In the end, even her heart burning with revenge and hatred became empty – all fires eventually burnt out and Oktavia von Seckendorff had no more passion to drive her on.

She had already dictated her arts of defence: "Defence of the City" it had been known. To some fool who would again walk her path in the future it would be given to.

This was the end of her path – empty, barren, a beach of swords and ashes before her.

And thus, Oktavia von Seckendorff, once known as 'Sayaka' fixed her sword on the ground, preparing to fall on it.

She had nothing more to live for.

Even as she laid on the sand of the beach however, her blood spilling out, her consciousness fading away, General von Seckendorff knew that somewhere in the future…

"_Countless fools will again tread my path."_

The body of 'Sayaka' died, but the legend and mantle of 'Oktavia von Seckendorff' would live on.

After all, history rhymes.

* * *

Isabella panted as the defences of Madrid were unravelled, her people slaughtered and defiled and the despair of the thought of yet having another long-struggled-for opportunity to unburden her people in the First Existence of the yoke of poverty and eternal conflict that characterised their existence – she was not thinking of Spain proper, but those lands associated with it through language in the Western Hemisphere – indeed, they did not think themselves Castilian or even Spanish, but even then, she still wished for their release.

That was never going to happen.

As she felt the people of Madrid and their hopes and dreams being severed from her heart, Wu Zetian's Command Realm cut into her own. Another figure clad in red before her entered her own Command Realm. From an imperial palace to a red castle, Wu Zetian brisked.

No speech came from her, other than the usual and expected ejection from the Game.

"_Connection cut!"_

* * *

"Make a contract with me and become a _niña mágica_!"

* * *

The body of Isabella I of Castile fell like a puppet, its strings destroyed. As her cross hit the ground, her body faded away as motes of light.

Before the Empress of Zhou, no Contractee pretender stood. Their foolish wishes, products of an unlearnt mind, were based on lies and thus the Civilizations they built were lies – before a brutal, unbending truth, lies crumbled, regardless of the whether or not the wishes that they were composed of were noble in intention.

* * *

Homura screamed as Rebels spawned outside Madoka City and did what rebels do. What she had learnt was, that if you tried expanding your Civilization and growing your population at a rapid rate was that, sooner or later, people were going to be pissed off – and when they got pissed off, they tended to raze the countryside and burn everything down – Homura herself felt burnt.

As she struggled on the ground, her "tutor" (more or less a bastard of a riddle-giving troll that never gave a proper answer) sniggered. Expand, he said. Get that piece of Silk with your settler, he said – and of course, rash and impulsive for more development, she had settled. What she had failed to do was understand was that her other cities were developing too and at a much higher rate than the new one – this naturally, raised the Unhappiness levels of the cities by quite a large degree.

For the first time in a long while, Homura, found herself unable to stand up, her chest being clamped and crushed by the high Unhappiness level of her Civilization. Thus, she could only exert her will on her Civilization lying on the ground.

"_Fortify…"_

* * *

Among their fellow leaders, Wu Zetian had a reputation of being quite brutal, in the sense that if you entered into a war against her with bad footing, you were liable to lose quickly and decisively. Her Unique Ability "Art of War" was a tremendous factor in this reputation, but there also was the consideration of her Unique Unit and her Unique Building. The Chu-Ko-Nu were repeating crossbowmen that could not be defeated easily and the Paper Maker was a powerful device for both early-game GPT and Science. The sheer unpredictability of her set of powers made Wu Zetian an extreme dangerous adversary – and a really useful friend, should she feel inclined.

Speaking of dangerous adversaries, Wu Zetian herself could be said to have very few; the vast majority of her potential opponents were either overly specialised or ultimately had a poor sense of the Game. Very few were among her equals – these few were known, alongside her as the Great Five – Bismarck, Gandhi, Oda, Washington and herself. It wasn't the powers alone – it was their endless dedication to the practice of the Game, even when they had a chance to relax from the burden of playing it in the Lobby (a place outside the Game proper, a kind of afterlife where the food and beverages were 'average' in a kind of half-assed way – at least the internet connection was neutral). Among them, Gandhi was the absolute worst.

Hooray for nuclear genocide galore!

On a more serious note, Wu Zetian wondered what other rivals she faced aside from the likes of Isabella – Contractee upstart fools, having sold their souls like whores, to a white rat (even those streetwalking types were more respectable than魔法少女when you thought about it long enough) instead of striving and struggling through their own efforts for a greater future and truth, made a Game ridiculously easy – and awfully boring. Focused on their dreams and desires, they gripped onto illusions of self-sacrifice and dedication – and they forced themselves to bear so many unnecessary burdens, as if they were messiahs, that it was completely pathetic; Ideals were one thing – having them torment you was another and the魔法少女 among the Leaders were particularly pathetic in this regard.

魔法少女 had no right to call themselves Leaders. They were nothing more than scum and grime caught in the Gears of reality and so was the race of rats that acted as their procurers.

Thankfully, the second Leader she was to meet was not one of those魔法少女. No – a yellow-black presence. The presence of a fellow comrade in this endless, meaningless, yet enjoyable fight against stupid theatrical, imagined self-sacrifice by whiners and whingers.

"_Catherine." _A completely neutral Wu Zetian looked at that familiar tsaritsa, a fellow rejecter of that devilish, deceptively cute abomination. Catherine could not be said to be a top-tier Leader – those ones were the Great Five – however, Catherine had a respectable mastery of strategy, so she could not said to be a crap-tier player like the 魔法少女 Leaders either.

"_привет, Wu Zetian." _A conversation between two experienced players usually involved very terse conversation – no smile, no fear, nothing was disclosed.

…

Catherine revived the conversation.

"_I started in the Ukraine. I intend to play Sprawl and Wall, Wide Scientific. All the way from the Baltic to the Persian Gulf."_ Of course, you could never trust Catherine – after all, she was known for grabbing a little piece of Poland.

Wu Zetian responded. _"That may be a bit problematic for me. Compromise – you can go from Baltic to Persian Gulf, but stay east of Mesopotamia – you can have Anatolia. Levant and Mesopotamia and Africa will be considered within my spheres of influence."_

Indeed, Wu Zetian had a powerful taste for compromise – Catherine found her proposition rather agreeable – why settle in Mesopotamia when it the go-to crossroad for intercontinental troublemakers the like of Genghis Khan? At least the Iranian Plateau would be easily defended by its hills and mountains; Mesopotamia was the ideal base of operations for a vicious world-conqueror, whether they came through land via the east or sea via the south; it was an invader magnet. Additionally, _'all of Africa'_ meant that someone was going to waste their time on improving land – and as far as Catherine was concerned, Wu Zetian had not yet built the Pyramids – if anything, Wu Zetian's claiming of a whole continent would mean Catherine would be better focused.

Thus Catherine voiced her acceptance:

"_I think I can deal with that."_

"_Good. Hopefully this game won't have to as savage as the other ones. Let it be a test of more than martial skill." _That was coming out of one of the best conquerors' mouth herself – in other words, Wu Zetian was sick of Domination – not that she wasn't peaceful, but that one game –

Let it be said that nuclear weapons were somewhat unpleasant.

Their first contact was about to conclude – and then Catherine remembered to tell Wu Zetian about the rest of the rabble, as a courtesy between empresses.

_"Dido is trying to make for a land grab in the eastern Mediterranean. I just captured Crete." _Catherine breathed deeply as if to compose herself and continued.

_ "Furthermore, there is a new Leader."_

_ "And who would that be?" _Wu Zetian was the Game judge another person to have the capability to be her equal? What great happening had moved the Game to place the worthiness of another individual high on the list?

_"Madoka Kaname."_

Evidently, the name was Japanese. Wu Zetian was now very curious. Aside from nuclear radiation and animation of questionable quality, what else came from Japan? Nothing interesting had happened in Japan since the Meiji Restoration, if Wu Zetian could recall her browsing of Wikipedia in the Lobby…

Catherine's silence spoke volumes on its own.

_"You're telling me, another one of that rat's contractees has been caught up in this Game?" _The silent dismay on Wu Zetian's face was eternally known by Leaders familiar with her as the face of a woman dismayed or disgusted by incompetence or some other great blunder.

_"We don't know exactly whether or not she's a девушка-волшебница or not yet. What can be ascertained is that she's an idealist – the way she just got unnerved by me tells me a lot that she is not our Maria Theresa or our stock – she did not do the hard work to get eligible for the Game. What I know for certain is that she is a newbie; Gandhi was tutoring her the last time I saw her."_

Gandhi! Of all the possible tutors, it had to be Gandhi! Why was Gandhi the worst possible person to be a tutor? Simple – Gandhi was known to be disproportionately skilled to the rest of the main Leaders – very recently inducted, he already had a couple of victories to call his own – such enviable finesse pointed to a miraculous ability to learn – and it tended to be that the good learners were also good teachers – tutored by Gandhi, Haile Selassie proved to be a formidable foe – his presence in one game dragged the game by so long that the victory that occurred in that one game was a Time Victory – no climax, no great reckoning, it was merely good statecraft that decided it.

The Game was going to be interesting.

_"What other details can you give me?" _…know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles…

_"Capital city's name is Mitakihara, located on the mouth of the Vistula. What I've seen from her is that her garrisoned units can attack twice."_

Indeed, this newcomer was a fitting protégé for the likes of Gandhi – first Haile Selassie with his 'Spirit of Adwa' and now another Leader with a city-defence related ability – no domination for Wu Zetian this Game, it seemed.

Of course, that begged the question how Catherine got to know about this Madoka's abilities.

_"Did you get into a war with her?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ "And the way you spoke of her – I assume you haven't conquered her yet?"_

Silence…

Of course, being defeated by a newbie was shameful! No-one would want to admit that.

Catherine, somewhat bitten by Wu Zetian's sardonic expression, defended herself:

_"That doesn't mean she defeated me! Just as I was about to send in reinforcements, Barbarians from the East came flooding out of nowhere! I had to send my troops back home to deal with them."_

Threatened by Barbarians so much that she had to bring troops home.

_"And it wasn't just one or two warriors, there was like hordes of them – they would've pillaged me back into the Neolithic if I didn't reinforce Moscow!"_

Being defeated by a newcomer was one of those things that severely reduced the credibility of a fellow Leader in Wu Zetian's eyes – but she was willing to relent on Catherine – after all, she faced a gigantic barbarian invasion from the Eurasian steps.

As Catherine's Command Realm split from her own and Catherine's presence disappeared from her senses, evidently somewhat in shame, Wu Zetian contemplated about her circumstances:

First, what were the exact Unique Abilities and Unique Buildings of this Kaname Madoka?

Second, what great impact on Human History gave her eligibility to enter the Game?

And finally, who the Hell was playing Wide, Sprawl and Maul in East Asia, chasing Barbarian halfway around the world? Dido was clearly in Europe as Catherine had mentioned earlier, she had just annihilated Isabella I…

It was probably Maria Theresa, but even she didn't have a tendency to go on a crusade against barbarians…

Wu Zetian cringed at the thought another newcomer had settled on the North China Plain and was dirtying that land so associated with her with incompetence and mismanagement. She was hoping that the force that had maniacally scared the Barbarians of Eastern Eurasia all the way westwards was neither newcomer nor Puella Magi…

Hope for the best, expect the worst!

* * *

Madoka saw the world for what it was.

A lonely world, a tragic world, a bleak and empty world filled with hatred and sorrow, dishonesty and war. In this world, the main good to be traded seemed to be death and it seemed to be dealt with the sword. The abandoned farmlands of Mitakihara City were testament to the vicious nature of this world, as villages upon villages east and west of the City lay empty, barren of life, inhabited only by weeds and wild animals.

A long time ago, in Antiquity, that tale had been told, the tale of empty farmlands, stripped of life, their inhabitants enslaved and trafficked to some faraway market to be left to whatever their masters' hands would do. A long time ago, that was the tale created by bandits of Rus – amongst the illiterate peasantry, the Rus were known as devils and bogeymen who kidnapped children in the night such that they were never seen by their parents ever again, if they did wrong. This legend had a basis – 'Oral history' it would come to be known and the awful flow of time tended to have a habit of perverting real enemies into bogeymen to be passed away into legends to scare children.

Why did improved tiles generate Gold when plundered? In times before the late Industrial and Modern Era, that was a polite means of representing to a Leader they had just kidnapped a couple (statistically unimportant – 1 to 1000) of the plundered citizens and sold them on a slave market.

Statistics – even before the Modern Era, with its countless ferocious wars and countless deaths – a person was essentially a statistic – nothing more.

One person was insignificant before the cruel titan of History.

* * *

'Nagisa' lied on the streets of the City that had been her home for the last 50 years or so. She had lived this way since her late childhood – when the Carthaginians came, left, only to have the Byzantines replace them.

The streets were very cold. The elderly beggar shivered as she drew her legs to her body to try and preserve what little warmth she had left. Clad only in her rags and blanket, she could only think of two things. 'Mami' and the cold.

It was winter. 'Nagisa', as an elderly woman, probably had no chance of surviving the vicious northern cold of Mitakihara. However, a tired body must sleep.

And thus, the aged form of 'Nagisa' entered a deep repose, her last thought being of the sweet warm fireplace, or home, sweet home, burnt down by the Carthaginians and 'Mami'.

On that night, 'Nagisa's' last emotion ever was hatred – nothing but pure hatred for the Byzantines that had stolen her adoptive sister from her.

* * *

Again and again, Madoka's people had suffered. Again and again, they had died like animals, numbers to be forgetten.

The hatred and anger of 'Nagisa's' dying heart filled her too – even a world free of Kyubey had its own tragedies.

And thus, a teary Madoka willed her Workers:

_"Repair an improvement."_ Decades later, the abandoned field of Mitakihara would be filled with life again.

She could see why her future self had eye bags and turned to the bottle.

Regardless, she held on.

For the sake of a world worth living in, she would pursue a Cultural Victory.

'Sayaka' – even if she was only a copy, an analogy, had given her a parting gift –

That was the legend that was the Great General Oktavia von Seckendorff, which would defend Mitakihara until death – and legends never died.

* * *

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	10. Classical 10 - I am Kaname Madoka

Chapter 10 – I am Kaname Madoka.

Madoka's innocence is destroyed. Homura creates a legend of her own. Truth inspires Hope.

* * *

Sorry for the rushed nature of the first 25 chapters; the first 25 chapters serve to develop the personality of Kaname Madoka the Leader . The Modern Era is where the main story occurs. Please bear with me; you will enjoy the Modern Era onwards for certain.

Please read and review.

* * *

"**I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the **_**present**_**. God has given me no control over the moment following."** - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

* * *

It could be said that Kaname Madoka now knew the true meaning of loneliness; the pain of Tomoe Mami was now being fully understood by her; this was the loneliness of a fighter, unable to rest or even seek comfort from others; this was the loneliness, that the relief of brought an untimely end to a young woman who merely wanted to rid the world of its evils and curses; this was the loneliness that Mami never learnt the true nature of, the loneliness that drove Magical Girls to become the very things they were fighting against; this was the loneliness of those who chose the path of a Magical Girl.

For all this loneliness however, even dressed as one Kaname Madoka was not a Magical Girl.

Kaname Madoka was not a Magical Girl, yet the pain that presumably brought ruin to other Magical Girls, she herself was feeling.

Leader of a Civilization, the great driving force of thousands upon thousands of people, Kaname Madoka was isolated – she did not know the exact geography of her situation; regardless, it seemed dire; from sea she faced the enemy of Theodora, who had not even bothered contacting her before attacking Mitakihara. From land, she was faced by Dido, a duplicitous fiend who had tried to deceive Madoka with an attempt to make a Declaration of Friendship; taking into account her attack on Mitakihara not soon after, it was clear that Dido had tried to gain her trust before attacking. There also was Catherine to contend with; though they were not at war any longer, the earliness and the organisation of her attack in the Ancient Era marked her as a high level threat.

Kaname Madoka was lonely; she knew what she was fighting for; win the Game and use its wish to erase the Incubators from human history, a true world-changing wish that would not only rid the world of Witches and the curses and suffering they brought onto humanity but the pain they wrought on the girls they deceived to become Magical Girls. In short, she fought to bring Hope to humanity. That was what she was fighting for; but as was the case with all fighters, it is easy to become lost in, or even be deceived by, abstract ideals; like Sayaka who lost herself for the sake of an imagined 'justice' when Witch-hunting was more akin to an amoral hunt for survival and Mami, who fought to save as many people as possible from the Witches, which preyed upon humans, in the end her only reward being death; in the end their ideals would not fight for them in what was essentially an amoral struggle between prey and predator.

Believing in 'Hope' alone was not enough; 'Hope' alone could not save the day. She had affirmed. She had reaffirmed. Again and again, she had reaffirmed to herself what she was fighting for. Again and again, Kaname Madoka had forced herself to stand and stand to create a world worth living in.

What did that even mean?

Of course, it meant such comforts such as friends, family, comfortable living, entertainment, joy…

What did it _mean? _What was the _essence_ of it? Why was there not a word she could find to truly _crystallise_ her purpose, rather than approximate its form, 'Hope'.

Thus, Kaname Madoka sat on a bench in her Command Realm, a spitting image of her school rooftop (for it had meant so much to her), resting her head on her hand, contemplating about those finer questions of life.

Standing for what you believed in was one thing; believing in it was different altogether. Here, a girl who had chosen to create Hope, contemplated the paradox of her existence in light of her desire to stand for it.

The meaninglessness, the pain of being lost and alone, that agony of not knowing purpose in one's life, that eternal transience that made the soul float, begging for something to cling on to, that meaninglessness had returned to bite her again; the pain of not being good enough, the inadequacy of being 'average' and ordinary; even in 'peaceful' times, she was in conflict with herself.

It had been with this meaninglessness that she had sought to become a Magical Girl; it was this desperation that had almost drove her to sell her soul to Kyubey; and it was with this meaninglessness, or rather, overwhelming doubt and uncertainty, that Kaname Madoka guided the Civilization of Mitakihara.

It was a bad joke; she herself had no meaning, yet her role was to provide meaning for others; for thousands upon thousands of individuals in fact and if she made it to the future, millions upon millions to come.

Perhaps her meaningless was so powerful that it shook the world and was the reason she was here.

She did not like it.

"Gandhi."

Her meditating mentor turned his attention to his apprentice.

"What do you do, when you 'know' what you are fighting for, but you can't 'feel' it?"

_Mitakihara has grown! Population level 10._

_Happiness level declining: 5 Total._

Before they could continue, Madoka winced and seized her chest as a disturbance in Mitakihara registered itself in the form of pain; in an earlier time she would've cried at the twistedness of it.

Now she knew the Game was just trolling her; with that empty frown, even accounting for the cuteness and innocence any girl like her bore, an onlooker would've thought she never had smiled in her life.

Two dead friends, one a sister figure, the other one she had known since childhood. One potential friend dead. A transfer student (who happened to be fixated on her) she knew other for a few weeks, condemned to a grisly fate; to turn into a Witch. The Ancient Era war with Catherine, hundreds of Mitakiharans dead or captured, whatever awful things that happened to them felt by her. Ditto with the war with the Byzantines and Carthaginians.

A long time ago, Kaname Madoka would've cried.

She was just too tired to cry.

* * *

History does not repeat, but it certainly does rhyme.

This iteration, this copy, analogue, call it what you may, of 'Mami' was lonely. Writing, by its very nature was a lonely occupation. No matter how deep and meaningful your written word was, if it did not please the common man, it would become forgotten. Tales of bawdiness and drunkenness were more enjoyable than deep and meaningful reflections on the nature of the human being. The fantastical tale that had been circulating around about a king, his fear of death, his desire for an equal and how he came to accept his mortality was the tale of the moment. However, 'Mami' was not one of the few writers of Mitakihara's renowned Writers' Guild for the sake of making raw, mundane and poorly written stories.

In her loneliness, 'Mami' found strength. In the death of her blood parents, she had found herself adopted by a librarian. As a peasant girl, 'Mami' never should've never been able to have become a writer in this prestigious institution. However, said librarian had taught her the art of writing.

Although the contents of Mitakihara's library were mostly royal archives, the library as her second home had inspired her greatly; what if the word could not only be used to observe the world, but imagine more ideal ones, without death and hurt?

'Mami' grew to find out that that was not a new idea; 'literature' it was called and it called to the souls of people rather than the counting of crops and recounting of histories.

It was in this loneliness, combined with her familiarity with the archives, that she devised a new idea.

Why not infuse into the archives a soul?

Combine entertainment that lifted the soul with histories that brought men and women alike to greatness! Uplift the common man from his base ignorance, yet free him from the banality of his exertions! Reinvigorate tired souls with the facts of the world, rather than crafting ones full of fantastical noise and struggles!

* * *

There was a performance at the amphitheatre.

_**The Epic of Seckendorff**_

_This is the tale of the fool Seckendorff,_

_ A common daughter of our City's beach._

_ She who lost everything, von Seckendorff,_

_ A beloved bard, smitten by fire_

_ Made her seek the sword, desperate and dire._

_ …_

_ In the end, she'd only a beach of swords,_

_ Her beloved bard, forever gone, lost._

_ She'd never hear again, his lyre's chords,_

_ So thus she decided to end it all._

_ This was Oktavia von Seckendorff._

It wasn't 'Mami' who recited it; rather, it was a young man, her apprentice. Again, like many of the other Citizens, he was but an analogy; he was the 'Kyousuke' of his time. A young man with a sweet voice, he was the perfect person to play the role of von Seckendorff. Granted, there was no blue hair dye to make his appearance match, but a play done well was a play done well.

On the steps of the amphitheatre, a young woman looked longingly at the sight of the actor; the longing vacantness of her face changed into jealousy as she saw 'Mami' approach 'Kyousuke'.

* * *

Being a friend with an actor had its benefits; for one, the loneliness that bit and tormented you day and night could be alleviated by embracing them, in the manner of husbands and wives, even when there was no marriage. Civilization was built on sex; those apples one immediately though of when thinking about food symbolized more than the food that allowed life; they also symbolised the _act_ that brought forth life; hence the reason why the Pantheon Belief _'Fertility Rites' _provided a 10% population growth bonus.

Thus 'Sayaka' was forced to endure those sounds of what she would never know together with 'Kyousuke'. Loved and desire filled her ears, but it was not her own.

Just as the sword may be turned into the sword, the sword may be turned into the ploughshare.

* * *

The cousin of Death was Sleep. In one of those peaceful days where Death did not rule the streets of Mitakihara as a result of famine from war, Sleep ruled it. Like Death however, Sleep was dead quite. It was in the dark quiet of the knife that 'Sayaka' readied her dagger.

* * *

She found herself by the bedside of the 'Mami' that had stolen her beloved, captured like a fly before a web by her false charms beside her.

The sight sickened her.

'Mami' had known many things, including the embrace of a young man never meant to caress her. In this cosmic play, it was thus 'Sayaka's' role to be the jealous onlooker.

'Sayaka' traced her dagger on 'Mami's' neck. Pulling open her sack, 'Sayaka' prepared to cut her throat and decapitate her.

* * *

As a Civilization grows, it will continue to have more people. These people will enter conflict into each other; as such they lie, attack, rob, kill, murder and rape each other. Temporarily, they solve these problems by trying to by drowning themselves in alcohol, smoking their lungs into absolute oblivion, murdering people who looked dissimilar to them or by dressing in elaborate clothing that did nothing to delay their inevitable deaths. This was what Unhappiness represented; the collective misery of all those who lived.

* * *

Crippled by the staggering amounts of Unhappiness in her Civilization, Homura willed as she finally finished her Liberty Policy tree.

_A Great General is born!_

She needed something to stand a chance against the Rebels.

* * *

History does not repeat, but it certainly does rhyme. If a reason could be attributed to this horrible joke of a rule, it would be that the Game was sentient and enjoyed tormenting those in it; then again, there was no means of proving that for certain.

Throughout the ages, the tale of a shell of a young boy who struggled to save the world he knew with whatever means he knew would rhyme.

A commander, a figure that was analogous to 'Emiya Kiritsugu', held onto the corpse of 'Shirley' as he continued to cry.

If he had killed her earlier, the tragedies that defined Neo Mitakihara never would've occurred.

Just as there was the legend of von Seckendorff, there was the legend of Emiya, a man that would kill and kill and kill and kill to save the world that he loved.

Why was the legend of Emiya gifted to New Mitakihara?

Who knows? But if the Game were sentient it would've justified itself by saying that his legend and the tale of a certain Leader were awfully similar.

* * *

Kaname Madoka was sitting on a stone bench, both hands at her temples, supporting an exasperated and exhausted mind. The violence and misery that the world of Civilization had shown her, an empty world of war and poverty, was beginning to grind and chip away at her mind and soul. As protector of one of the many peoples of that world, she had sought to become the ideal Leader; yet in the misery that defined it, she found that with every struggle and every order she gave further sapped at her core.

The Deluge, the ancient war with the Russians; at least several thousands dead in the conflict and several other thousands had died from the famine they threw on the countryside; 'Stagnation' of a city growth referred to the net growth of its population and thus for as many that died, an equal amount replaced them; nonetheless, people had died from hunger. She felt it all, the hostile blades of the enemy, their thousands of arrows, the indignities and atrocities inflicted on them, the hunger with which they had starved, she had felt it with her body.

The war with the Carthaginians, in which she had felt the full weight of thousands of War Elephants, almost knocking her unconscious once; likewise, she had felt the torment of a countryside, burnt and pillaged, among other atrocities. She had felt less starvation around that time with the Hanging Gardens having shielded her from the brutality of the ordeal, yet great agonies had still tormented her stomach and soul.

The war with the Byzantines, with their caustic Greek fire; the arsons they had inflicted on Mitakihara, their raids on the surrounding villages suffered by her too; the memories of burns felt like burns themselves.

Before such violence and evil, she had tried defend her belief in the good nature of humanity. She had not broken before Kyubey as he showed her the many wars and conflicts that had defined and shaped humanity, for in her heart, she had believed that they could be attributed to the Incubators.

In this world, there were no Incubators; yet the misery and brutality that defined human interactions still existed. If a positive thing could be said about humanity in this world, it would be that they were advancing without the Incubators; however, it could be said they were only making progress towards the future as they wanted more efficient means of enslaving and subjugating each other; there was progress in the sense that ploughshares were being turned to swords, which then would be turned into greater swords to hack each other heads and limbs off.

Humanity had the ability to make progress without the Incubators, but in was not in the sense Kaname Madoka wanted.

"I just can't 'feel' it anymore Gandhi. 'To create a world worth living in'. I want to make that world. I want to create a city that lights up the darkness. I want to build a world without agony. That was my goal since the beginning, to create a world where we were not defined by misery but rather our dreams. I feel like I can't do it anymore."

"Humanity is just too vile for me to be able to save it. I don't think I'm strong enough. How do I retire, Gandhi?" Her last sentence was spoken with a little more force, as if to emphasise how disillusioned she had become.

At this, Gandhi stood up, adjusting his glasses.

"_Do not retire."_ He knew that deep down, his pupil still had her vision of a world filled with Hope.

"_In my first game, I too was tempted at times to abandon India; they were only temptations, since I already had known the nature of humanity before I became a Leader."_ Gandhi had known, from his life in the First Existence, that humanity was by no means perfect; Civ had only reinforced this belief.

"_But young Kaname, you have had not the life experience to learn this; I will tell it to you now. Humanity is not perfect, but nonetheless, I have this one belief."_

"What is it? I can't even see a way out of its state."

"_Humanity can be saved; it can be fixed."_

Hesitation filled her Command Realm.

Madoka responded; "I don't think I can be the Hope that fixes it."

This was where the root of the problem lay; Kaname Madoka had chosen for her soul to suffer needlessly; suffering was a weapon, but there was a time and a place for it; this was what he was supposed to teach her as a mentor; to not _force_ herself to believe.

"_You are pursuing your vision in the wrong way. You cannot merely create full of your ideals by simply forcing yourself to believe in them. You must accept that the world and thus humanity is imperfect. You yourself are imperfect. I think then it would be quite difficult for you to become an idea."_

"What do I do then?" A world where she could not believe in Hope was unbearable.

"_Stop wallowing in your ideals."_

"What?" Madoka needed clarification.

"_Ideals are immortal and invincible. They are always there, no matter how hard you mistreat and abuse them. This means they can be stored away; what I am telling you is that for the rest of the Game, you should place your ideals away for a moment."_

"I want to create a world of Hope!"

Gandhi raised his voice. "_And it is in that obsessive desire that you needlessly suffer! Young Kaname, I am not telling you to abandon your ideal of 'Hope'; I am telling you to not let it weigh on your shoulders like Atlas. You yourself cannot bear all the burdens of the world; you are only one woman; you are a Leader, not a superhero."_

There was meaning in those worlds. Madoka softened her heart, preparing to hear more.

"So how will I create the ideal world?"

"_That is simple. __**Revel in your moment**__! Be a Leader for the sake of leading. Enjoy your moment here! Enjoy the Game while minimising the harm you do to others and maximising the good, you __**can**__ do, not what you __**want **__to do. Eventually, it'll all add up. The world of your ideals will then be born as a pleasant surprise. Don't let the ominous cloud of your ideals sap the sunlight of your time here."_

Those words carried meaning of their own, even in their own meaninglessness; Madoka was moved by them; why suffer to create your ideal world? Why not enjoy it? She only suffered because she chose to suffer; she only chose to be tormented like a martyr because she thought it was the only way to materialise her ideal; she didn't need to.

"Gandhi."

"_Yes?"_

"Do you have the words to that incantation that loaded the Game?" Madoka would resume leading, for an entirely new reason however; to enjoy herself and in the process, create her ideal world; she would not let it weigh on her mind.

"_Here."_

After reading it, and seeing that the words easy came into her mind, Madoka closed her eyes, embracing the V-shaped necklace that was where her Soul Gem would've been had she chosen to establish a contract, her hands clasped around it as if it were a prayer with a rosary.

"A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history...

...when we step out from the old to the new.

When an age ends...

...and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed...

...finds utterance."

She saw that Mitakihara would emerge out of the grim darkness of the Ancient and Classical Eras and through embracing the mundane, speed towards the light of Modernity.

"Build courage when courage seems to fail.

Gain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith.

Create hope...

...when hope becomes forlorn."

Mitakihara had nothing to fear; a guardian that was the legend of Oktavia von Seckendorff would protect it; no matter who wielded it or from what age they came from, that legend would continue to inspire those who believed in it to protect the City. What hope they required would come from their continued defiance under that legend.

"I never learned how to tune a harp or play upon a lute...

...but I know how to raise a small and obscure city to glory and greatness...

...whereto all kindred of the Earth will pilgrim."

She knew in her heart that Mitakihara would be shining city, the one above all others, the one that would encapsulate the most out of all of them, an ideal; but it would not be because she struggled for it, but because she enjoyed making it one.

"The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches...

...which are already decisions...

...but by iron and blood."

She knew that in the future, Mitakihara would have enemies; such enemies would be nothing more than wild animals preying on the weak and without regret or doubt, she would kill them.

"I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses.

On this foundation...

...it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.

The countless masses of Mitakihara would work, not for an ideal, but for themselves. The ideal would be a secondary consequence and in the joy of their lives, it would be a byproduct.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

She did not need to believe in her dreams, only their beauty. That was how the future would be made.

* * *

In a world of rainbows and bubbles, Kaname Madoka found herself.

She had a vision of herself before a doppelganger. Presumably, this was Kaname Madoka the Magical Girl.

She saw Kaname Madoka the Magical Girl fading away before her dreamscape, into nothingness. On that Madoka's face, there was not hostility for being rejected.

There was only gladness for being allowed to rest.

The rest of Kaname Madoka the Magical Girl had faded away.

* * *

Back in her Command Realm, Madoka saw that her necklace was shining, growing brighter by the minute. It then flashed, filling the Realm with light, obscuring everything in it.

Madoka opened her eyes, to see that she no longer had the costume of a Puella Magi on her; there only was her school uniform. Yet, she knew she was still a Leader. She didn't need to be dressed as a Puella Magi (and by extension, in a kind of way, be a Puella Magi, even without a contract with Kyubey) to be a Leader; thus, she did not need to suffer to be a Leader.

"That's right. I'm not a Magical Girl. I never was a Magical Girl. I never needed to suffer like one."

"I am a Leader." Gandhi looked at his pupil, impressed at her change in mentality.

"I am Kaname Madoka."

* * *

The tale of Kaname Madoka, a female leader (_Puella Dux) _thus truly began.

* * *

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